The influence of diffraction in microinterferometry and microtomography of optical fibers

Abstract Interferometric measurement of two- and three-dimensional refractive index distribution in optical fibers is numerically simulated with the use of wavefront calculation method based on Hyugens–Fresnel principle. The calculation is performed for two models of fibers: homogenous and step-index multi-mode fiber. The simulation is aimed at determination of errors caused by diffraction artifacts due to microdimensions of tested objects and the presence of boundaries of media with different refractive indices. The result of simulation is methodology of increasing the accuracy of measurement in selected areas of measurement field/volume. The simulation outcomes are confirmed by the experiment.