Vanishing tilt-to-length coupling for a singular case in two-beam laser interferometers with Gaussian beams

Understand

The omnipresent tilt-to-length coupling in two-beam laser interferometers, frequently a nuisance in precision measurements, vanishes for the singular case of two beams with identical parameters and complete detection of both beams without clipping.

• This effect has been observed numerically and is explained in this manuscript by the cancellation of two very different effects of equal magnitude and opposite sign.
• This paper was published in Applied Optics and is made available as an electronic reprint with the permission of OSA.
• The paper can be found at the following URL on the OSA website: [http://www.opticsinfobase.org/ao/abstract.cfm?URI=ao-54-5-1010].