Mach–Zehnder interferometer
Device to determine relative phase shift / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Mach–Zehnder interferometer is a device used to determine the relative phase shift variations between two collimated beams derived by splitting light from a single source. The interferometer has been used, among other things, to measure phase shifts between the two beams caused by a sample or a change in length of one of the paths. The apparatus is named after the physicists Ludwig Mach (the son of Ernst Mach) and Ludwig Zehnder; Zehnder's proposal in an 1891 article[1] was refined by Mach in an 1892 article.[2] Mach–Zehnder interferometry with electrons as well as with light has been demonstrated.[3] The versatility of the Mach–Zehnder configuration has led to its being used in a range of research topics efforts especially in fundamental quantum mechanics.