Experimental Verification of Source Size Theory for the Mach-Zehnder Interferometer

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Abstract
The simplified theory of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer developed by the latter author is tested. The reduction in the visibility of fringes formed by the interferometer due to an extended area light source is shown experimentally. This reduction is shown to be caused by the superposition of two separate effects which are characteristic of the two angular coordinates of the unit vector pointing from the center of the collimating lens toward each point in the plane of the area-type source. The relation of each of the effects to that coordinate characterizing it is demonstrated experimentally to agree with the theory. The result of combining these two effects from all of the points of an area-type source is experimentally seen to cause the ``focusing'' of the visible fringes and to limit them to a finite region of the intersecting beams determined by the size and shape of the source.

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