Abstract
Statistical errors in mutual intensity, measured by a photon-noise-limited, wave-front-folding interferometer, are studied from the viewpoint of high-resolution imaging through the turbulent atmosphere. The effects of quantum noise in light detection on the modulus and phase measurements are analyzed, and simplified statistical models of normal distributions are derived. The errors that are due to both the photon noise and atmospheric phase-front perturbations are clarified by using the simplified photon-noise models and the so-called log-normal model for the atmospheric perturbations. The conditions under which the conventional method for phase-unwrapping preprocessing can be applied to the interferometric data are studied to specify the limitations of wave-front-folding interferometry. The analysis suggests the possible application of such interferometry to a survey of simple objects, such as binary stars, or to a detailed investigation of solar-surface structures.
© 1983 Optical Society of America
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