Quadrature-detection-error Compensation in a Sinusoidally Modulated Optical Interferometer Using Digital Signal Processing

In an optical interferometer that uses sinusoidal modulation and quadrature detection, the amplitude and offset of the interference signal vary with time, even without considering system noise. As a result, the circular Lissajous figure becomes elliptical, with wide lines. We propose and experimentally demonstrate a method for compensating quadrature detection error, based on digital signal processing to deal with scaling and fitting. In scaling, fluctuations in the amplitudes of in-phase and quadrature signals are compensated, and the scaled signals are fitted to a Lissajous unit circle. To do so, we scale the average fluctuation, remove the offset, and fit the ellipse to a unit circle. Our measurements of a target moving with uniform velocity show that we reduce quadrature detection error from 5 to 2 nanometers.