Optical phase and amplitude measurement by single sideband homodyne detection

The amplitude and phase of optical signals are linearly transferred into a low frequency amplitude and phase by phase modulated single sideband homodyne detection with an arbitrary, odd phase modulation of appropriate peak phase deviation. When introducing an additional amplitude modulation or by employing double phase modulation or a single sideband detector, absolute amplitude and phase errors less than 1 percent and 1°, respectively, are achieved for a large range of the peak phase deviation. Test measurements with integrated Mach-Zehnder interferometers on LiNbO3are in excellent agreement with the theoretical results.