Optical Interferometry - a Gentle Introduction

Chris Haniff (University of Cambridge)

Abstract:

In this talk I review the basic principles required to understand the use of interferometry for optical/infrared astrophysics. The essential basis is the simple Fourier transform relationship between the properties of a source and the fringe patterns produced when it illuminates an interferometer. I explore this relationship and review the links between angular resolution and the length of the interferometer baseline, between image recovery and the number of interferometer baselines measured, and between the source morphology and the measurements needed to infer the source structure successfully.

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A note on the use of Summer School material.

Bibliography:

• A sharper view of the stars
  A.R. Hajian and J.T. Armstrong
  Scientific American, 284, 48-55 (2001)

• Introduction to Interferometry
  T.R. Bedding
  in "Science with the VLT Interferometer" Proceedings of the ESO workshop, Garching, Germany, 18-21 June 1996 (Berlin: Springer-Verlag) (1997).

• Elementary theory of interferometry
  A.F. Boden
  in "Principles of Long Baseline Stellar Interferometry"
  Michelson Summer School Proceedings (1999).

• Long-Baseline Optical and Near-Infrared Interferometry
  M. Shao and M.M. Colavita,
  Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 30, 457-498 (1992).