Smart, portable, miniature, static, broadband, optical interferometers and measurements

Optical interferometry is a well-known, highly regarded and powerful measurement technique that is used in many forms to perform a very wide range of measurements. Applications of interferometry range from source characterisation to material characterisation; from OCT to photonic sensing; and from space weather monitoring to gravitational wave detection efforts. In this work, we report this powerful measurement tool in its form as a PIE instrument that is based on the Young's interferometer configuration. We report several metrology and FT-spectroscopy measurements using this miniature, portable, static, broadband interferometer configuration that includes both optical fiber circuits and optical waveguide circuits. Using these simple and powerful interferometer configurations, we report sub-nanometer spectral resolutions, picometer detection of wavelength changes, high resolution measurements of group velocity dispersion and attosecond measurements of delay change.