I present the construction of a low-velocity intense source (LVIS) of laser-cooled neutral strontium using permanent ring magnets. The LVIS consists of a magneto-optical trap from which cold strontium is extracted in a well-collimated beam. I also present the development and implementation of a full suite of low-noise, high-bandwidth laser control electronics including a microcontroller unit. This microcontroller remotely controls and monitors the current driver, temperature controller, and PID lock circuit for each diode laser simultaneously. The current driver output is accurate to within 2 micro-amps and repeatable to with a few nano-amps. The noise spectral density of the current driver hits a floor of 10^(-10) amps per root Hz at ~50 Hz and has a modulation bandwidth of ~50 MHz. The PID lock-circuit includes a scan-balancing option that we have used to scan an AR coated laser diode ~30 GHz mode-hop free. I describe the construction of an 80 mW frequency doubled 461 nm laser system using PPKTP for cooling and trapping neutral strontium in the LVIS. The LVIS, the electronics systems, and the 461 nm laser system represent major milestones on the way to producing a matter-wave interferometer using Sr-87 ions. The interferometer is based on an optical Raman transition between the hyperfine ground states of the Sr-87 ion. The ions will be produced by exciting the strontium LVIS beam to an auto-ionizing state in the continuum. In the interferometer two half-pi pulses of light and one pi pulse will be delivered to the ions to split and recombine their wave functions. I present calculations of the predicted sensitivity and a discussion of the possible applications. I present a method for locking a 407.8 nm laser to the 5s doublet S J=1/2 to 5p doublet P J=3/2 strontium ion transition in a neutral vapor. I present calculations for the necessary vacuum levels for the experiment and describe the preparation and assembly of the vacuum apparatus. The major vacuum system consists of two connected elastomer sealed chambers: one at 10^(-7) Torr and the other at 10^(-10) Torr separated by a region of low conductance. I present a Sr vapor cell constructed from standard CF fittings that allows the strontium to be heated to ~730 C, which can also be run as a thermal beam. I present a method for protecting the viewports on small-form alkali-earth vapor cells using lead or indium foil during the evaporation of oxide layers. Finally, I report on the current status of the experiment as well as detail future work on the apparatus.

Optical coherence imaging, including tomography (OCT) and microscopy (OCM), has been a growing research field in biomedical optical imaging in the last decade. In this imaging modality, a broadband light source, thus of short temporal coherence length, is used to perform imaging via interferometry. A challenge in optical coherence imaging, as in any imaging system towards biomedical diagnosis, is the quantification of image quality and optimization of the system components, both a primary focus of this research. We concentrated our efforts on the optimization of the imaging system from two main standpoints: axial point spread function (PSF) and practical steps towards compact low-cost solutions. Up to recently, the criteria for the quality of a system was based on speed of imaging, sensitivity, and particularly axial resolution estimated solely from the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the axial PSF with the common practice of assuming a Gaussian source power spectrum. As part of our work to quantify axial resolution we first brought forth two more metrics unlike FWHM, which accounted for side lobes in the axial PSF caused by irregularities in the shape of the source power spectrum, such as spectral dips. Subsequently, we presented a method where the axial PSF was significantly optimized by suppressing the side lobes occurring because of the irregular shape of the source power spectrum. The optimization was performed through optically shaping the source power spectrum via a programmable spectral shaper, which consequentially led to suppression of spurious structures in the images of a layered specimen. The superiority of the demonstrated approach was in performing reshaping before imaging, thus eliminating the need for post-data acquisition digital signal processing. Importantly, towards the optimization and objective image quality assessment in optical coherence imaging, the impact of source spectral shaping was further analyzed in a task-based assessment method based on statistical decision theory. Two classification tasks, a signal-detection task and a resolution task, were investigated. Results showed that reshaping the source power spectrum was a benefit essentially to the resolution task, as opposed to both the detection and resolution tasks, and the importance of the specimen local variations in index of refraction on the resolution task was demonstrated. Finally, towards the optimization of OCT and OCM for use in clinical settings, we analyzed the detection electronics stage, which is a crucial component of the system that is designed to capture extremely weak interferometric signals in biomedical and biological imaging applications. We designed and tested detection electronics to achieve a compact and low-cost solution for portable imaging units and demonstrated that the design provided an equivalent performance to the commercial lock-in amplifier considering the system sensitivity obtained with both detection schemes.

High-Frame-Rate Oil Film Interferometry Jonathan Charles White This thesis presents the design and implementation of a high-frame-rate oil film interferometry technique (HOFI) used to directly measure skin friction in time dependent flows. Experiments were performed to determine the ability of a high-speed camera to capture oil film interferometry images. HOFI was found to be able to capture these interferometry images at frequencies up to 105 Hz. Steady laminar and turbulent flows were tested. Transient flows tested consisted of a wind tunnel ramping up in velocity and a laminar boundary layer which was intermittently tripped to turbulence by puffing air out of a pressure tap. Flow speeds ranged from 0 to 108 ft/sec and 10 and 50 cSt Dow Corning 200 dimethylpolysiloxane silicone oil was used. The skin friction was determined from the rate of change of the height of the oil film using lubrication theory. The height of the oil film was determined from the high speed camera interferogram images using a MATLAB script which determined fringe spacing by fitting a four-parameter sine wave to the intensity levels in each image. The MATLAB script was able to determine the height of the oil film for thousands of interferogram images in only a few minutes with sub-pixel error in fringe spacing. The skin friction was calculated using the oil film height history allowing for the direct measurement of skin friction in time dependent flows.

One of two project reports. Part A can be found at: http://hdl.handle.net/11375/17932 / Time-averaged holographic interferometry is applied to the study of the resonance mode structures of an electromagnetic and a piezoelectric high frequency loud-speaker. Vibrational amplitude measurements were made using the simple concept of the holo-diagram. The vibrational amplitude sensitivity range was from 0.1 µm to 0.9 µm, which is an ideal range since the speaker vibrational amplitudes were always below 0.8 µm. Application of the technique to non-destructive speaker quality testing and optimum speaker design is also discussed in the report. / Thesis / Master of Engineering (ME)

In vorliegender Arbeit werden Aufbau und Charakterisierung des beidseitig antastenden Interferometers vorgestellt, mit dem die absolute Länge prismatischer Körper ohne Anschub an eine Referenzplatte gemessen werden kann, was Verformungen durch Wechselwirkungen von Endmaßen mit angeschobenen Platten verhindern kann. Die Messunsicherheit im Vergleich zum Prototypen konnte aufgrund eines verbesserten Temperaturmesssystems, eines temperaturstabilisierten Vakuumkessels, Optiken mit besserer Ebenheit und Kameras größerer Auflösung deutlich reduziert werden. Das entwickelte Justageverfahren mit Autokollimationsscan und die Korrektur von Wellenfrontaberrationen tragen ebenso zu einer reduzierten Messunsicherheit bei, wie der durch optimale Ausrichtung der keilförmigen Strahlteilerplatten reduzierte Einfluss von Störinterferenzen. Vergleichsmessungen eines Stahl- und eines Filterglasendmaßes mit einseitig antastenden Interferometern zeigten mit Differenzen im Bereich von 0,4 bis 2,6 nm im Rahmen der Unsicherheiten konsistente Probenlängen, was die gute Eignung des beidseitig antastenden Interferometers für absolute Längenmessungen zeigt. Vergleichsmessungen an Silizium ergaben für die beidseitig antastend gemessenen Längen gegenüber im einseitig antastenden Interferometer gemessenen Längen deutlich geringere Werte und eine reproduzierbare Differenz zwischen den mit 532 und 633 nm gemessenen Längen von etwa 4 nm. Diese Effekte sind vermutlich auf die sich beim beidseitig antastenden Verfahren deutlich stärker auswirkenden Material- und Oberflächeneigenschaften zurückzuführen. Das volle Potential des beidseitig antastenden Interferometers entfaltet sich aufgrund des großen Messunsicherheitsbeitrages der Rauheit und des Phasensprungs bei der Reflexion vor allem bei der Messung von Längenänderungen, wie der thermischen Ausdehnung oder der Langzeitstabilität verschiedener Materialien, für die die Effekte der Rauheit und des Phasensprungs eine vernachlässigbare Rolle spielen. / The present thesis adresses the setup and characterization of PTB´s double-ended interferometer, which allows for absolute length measurement of prismatic bodies without the need for wringing to a platen, which prevents deformation caused by their interaction. In comparison with PTB´s prototype, the measurement uncertainty has been substantially reduced due to an improved temperature measurement system, a temperature stabilized vacuum chamber, optics of better flatness and cameras with higher resolution. Further reduction of the measurement uncertainty has been achieved by the developed adjustment procedure including an autocollimation scanning and a correction of the influence of wavefront aberrations. Multiple configurations of orientation of the beamsplitter plate wedges were tested to minimize the influence of parasitic interferences. Comparison measurements against single-ended interferometers on a steel and a filter glas gauge block resulted in deviations of the measured length in the range of 0.4 to 2.6 nm, which is in good agreement with measurement uncertainties. This proves the capability of absolute length measurement of the double-ended interferometer. Comparison measurements on silicon gauge blocks resulted in significantly shorter lengths than those measured in single-ended interferometers with a reproducible length difference of 4 nm for the different used wavelengths of 532 and 633nm. Those effects are presumably based on material and surface characteristics which seem to have a much stronger impact on the measured length when the sample is not wrung to a platen. Due to the large contribution of the roughness and the phase change on reflection to the measurement uncertainty, the full potential of the double ended interferometer will unfold for measurements on lengths changes, like measurement of the thermal expansion or long term stability of different materials, for which the influence of the roughness and phase change on reflection can be neglected.

Die einzigartige (bio)-chemische Spezifität der mittleren Infrarotmikroskopie birgt ein enormes Potential für eine breite Palette biomedizinischer und industrieller Anwendungen. Eine wesentliche Einschränkung ergibt sich jedoch durch die unzureichenden Detektionsmöglichkeiten in diesem Wellenlängenbereich, da derzeitige Mittelinfrarot-Detektoren meist durch geringere Leistungsfähigkeit bei deutlich höheren Anschaffungskosten gekennzeichnet sind. Dementsprechend verlagern neuentwickelte Technologien mitunter die Detektion in den sichtbaren Spektralbereich, in dem eine weitaus bessere, Silizium-basierte Kameratechnologie verfügbar ist. Ein solches Verfahren, das im Mittelpunkt dieser Arbeit steht, ist die Quantenbildgebung mit undetektiereten Photonen, welche sich zunehmend als leistungsfähiges Werkzeug für Infrarot-Bildgebung entwickelt. Der optische Aufbau basiert auf nichtlinearer Interferometrie bei der räumlich verschränkte, nicht-entartete Photonenpaare die Entkopplung der Analyse- und Detektionswellenlängen ermöglicht. Entsprechend wird die Bildgebung im mittleren Infrarotbereich durch die Detektion von Nahinfrarotlicht mit einer handelsüblichen CMOS-Kamera realisiert. In dieser Arbeit wird die beschriebene Methode auf die Mikroskopie übertragen, wodurch Abbildungen biologischer Gewebeproben im mittleren Infrarotbereich mit einer Auflösung von geringer als 10 Mikrometer angefertigt werden können. Darüber hinaus werden zwei Abbildungsregime untersucht, die auf den komplementären Impuls- und Positionskorrelationen der Photonenpaare basieren. Weiterführende Möglichkeiten der Kombination von Quanten-Bildgebung mit unentdeckten Photonen und FTIR-Spektroskopie zum Zwecke der räumlich-spektral kontinuierlichen Datenerfassung werden besprochen. Die vorgestellten Ergebnisse stellen die Entwicklungsfähigkeit der Quantenbildgebung mit unentdeckten Photonen unter Beweis und demonstrieren ihr Potential für praxisnahe Anwendungen in der Biomedizin und der Industrie. / The unique (bio)-chemical specificity of mid-infrared (IR) microscopy holds tremendous promise for a wide range of biomedical and industrial applications. Significant limitation, however, arises from poor detection capabilities in this wavelengths range, with current mid-IR detection technology often marrying inferior technical capabilities with prohibitive costs. Accordingly, emerging approaches shift detection into the visible regime, where vastly superior silicon-based camera technology is available. One such technique, and the one that is in the center of this thesis is quantum imaging with undetected photons (QIUP), which has recently emerged as a new powerful imaging tool. The optical layout is based on nonlinear interferometry, where spatially entangled non-degenerate photon pairs enable the decoupling of the sensing and detection wavelengths, facilitating mid-IR wide-field imaging through the detection of near-IR light with an off-the-shelf CMOS camera. Additionally, the method is expanded towards microscopy, attaining sub-10 μm resolution, demonstrating our technique is fit for purpose, acquiring microscopic images of biological tissue samples in the mid-IR. Additionally, two imaging regimes are explored, based on the complementary momentum and position correlations. A comparison between the two regimes is presented and some limitations of the technique are discussed. Further efforts of combining QIUP with Fourier Transform IR spectroscopy for spatio-spectral continuous data acquisition are reviewed. The presented results demonstrate the achieved progress towards advancing QIUP to enable real-world biomedical as well as industrial imaging applications.

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