| Abstract from DBPedia | Interferometry is a technique which uses the interference of superimposed waves to extract information. Interferometry typically uses electromagnetic waves and is an important investigative technique in the fields of astronomy, fiber optics, engineering metrology, optical metrology, oceanography, seismology, spectroscopy (and its applications to chemistry), quantum mechanics, nuclear and particle physics, plasma physics, remote sensing, biomolecular interactions, surface profiling, microfluidics, mechanical stress/strain measurement, velocimetry, optometry, and making holograms. Interferometers are devices that extract information from interference. They are widely used in science and industry for the measurement of microscopic displacements, refractive index changes and surface irregularities. In the case with most interferometers, light from a single source is split into two beams that travel in different optical paths, which are then combined again to produce interference; two incoherent sources can also be made to interfere under some circumstances though. The resulting interference fringes give information about the difference in optical path lengths. In analytical science, interferometers are used to measure lengths and the shape of optical components with nanometer precision; they are the highest precision length measuring instruments in existence. In Fourier transform spectroscopy they are used to analyze light containing features of absorption or emission associated with a substance or mixture. An astronomical interferometer consists of two or more separate telescopes that combine their signals, offering a resolution equivalent to that of a telescope of diameter equal to the largest separation between its individual elements.干渉法（かんしょうほう）は複数の波を重ね合わせるとき、それぞれの波の位相が一致した部分では波が強め合い、位相が逆転している部分では弱めあうことを利用して、波長（周波数）や位相差を測定する技術のこと。この原理を利用した機器を主に干渉計とよぶ。 ガンマ線から可視光線、電波・音波領域に及ぶ電磁波工学の研究・製品の製造管理（および較正）・動作原理においては基礎的技術であり、この原理を利用する機器・分野は極めて多岐に渡る。 (Source: http://dbpedia.org/resource/Interferometry) |
