Noise reduction device and detection apparatus including same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016147016-A1
Application number	US-201514937691-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 10, 2015
Priority date	Nov 20, 2014
Publication date	May 26, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A noise reduction device capable of reducing noise over a wide frequency range and a detection apparatus including the same are provided. The noise reduction device includes a splitting unit configured to split pulsed light generated in a first period into three or more pulsed light beams, a delaying unit configured to provide the three or more pulsed light beams with different delay times, and a combining unit configured to combine the three or more pulsed light beams. Among the three or more pulsed light beams, two pulsed light beams whose delay times provided by the delaying unit are closest to each other are configured such that a difference between their delay times is equal to the first period.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A noise reduction device comprising:
a splitting unit configured to split pulsed light generated in a first period into three or more pulsed light beams; a delaying unit configured to provide the three or more pulsed light beams with different delay times; and a combining unit configured to combine the three or more pulsed light beams, wherein among the three or more pulsed light beams, two pulsed light beams whose delay times provided by the delaying unit are closest to each other are configured such that a difference between their delay times is equal to the first period.

2 . The noise reduction device according to claim 1 , wherein among the three or more pulsed light beams, the two pulsed light beams whose delay times provided by the delaying unit are closest to each other are configured such that the following expression is satisfied:
t k −T<T/ 6
where t k is the difference between their delay times and T is the first period.

3 . The noise reduction device according to claim 1 , wherein the splitting unit splits the pulsed light into first, second, . . . , nth pulsed light beams, n being an integer greater than two, and the following expression is satisfied:

a
k

=

(

n
-
1

)

!

(

n
-
1
-
k

)

!



k
!



2

n
-
1



where a k is a light intensity ratio between the first, second, . . . , nth pulsed light beams after they are combined by the combining unit, k is an integer between 0 and n−1).

4 . The noise reduction device according to claim 1 , wherein the splitting unit splits the pulsed light into first, second, . . . , nth pulsed light beams, n being an integer greater than two, the delaying unit provides the first, second, . . . , nth pulsed light beams with first, second, . . . , nth delay times, respectively, and the following expression is satisfied:
t 0 = . . . t n-2 =T
where t 0 is a difference between the first and second delay times and t n-2 is a difference between the (n−1)th and nth delay times.

5 . The noise reduction device according to claim 1 , wherein the splitting unit splits the pulsed light into first, second, . . . , nth pulsed light beams, n being an integer greater than two, the delaying unit provides the first, second, . . . , nth pulsed light beams with first, second, . . . , nth relative delay times, respectively, with reference to the delay time provided to the first pulsed light beam, and when the first period is T, the first, second, . . . , nth relative delay times are 0, T, . . . (n−1)T, respectively.

6 . The noise reduction device according to claim 1 , wherein the delaying unit includes an optical fiber forming three or more optical paths corresponding to the three or more pulsed light beams, respectively, and the three or more optical paths have different optical distances.

7 . The noise reduction device according to claim 1 , further comprising an adjusting unit configured to adjust a light intensity of each of the three or more pulsed light beams.

8 . The noise reduction device according to claim 7 , further comprising an optical fiber configured to guide each of the three or more pulsed light beams,
wherein the adjusting unit includes a fused area where the optical fiber is fused such that polarization directions of the pulsed light before and after the fused area are different.

9 . The noise reduction device according to claim 7 , further comprising an optical fiber configured to guide each of the three or more pulsed light beams,
wherein the adjusting unit includes a fiber-type polarizing beam splitter configured to receive the pulsed light beam guided by the optical fiber.

10 . The noise reduction device according to claim 8 , wherein the optical fiber is a polarization-maintaining optical fiber.

11 . A detection apparatus comprising:
the noise reduction device according to claim 1 ; and a generating unit configured to generate the pulsed light in the first period.

12 . The detection apparatus according to claim 11 , further comprising:
a first generating unit configured to generate pulsed light; a second generating unit configured to generate pulsed light having an optical frequency different from that of the pulsed light generated by the first generating unit; and a detecting unit configured to detect light whose intensity is modulated by emitting the pulsed light generated by the first generating unit and the pulsed light generated by the second generating unit and passing through the noise reduction device to a sample.

13 . The detection apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the first generating unit generates the pulsed light in a period that is an integral multiple of the first period.

14 . The detection apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the detecting unit includes a lock-in amplifier configured to perform lock-in detection using a repetition period of the pulsed light generated by the first generating unit as a lock-in period.

15 . The detection apparatus according to claim 12 , further comprising an extracting unit configured to change an optical frequency of light extracted from the pulsed light generated by the first generating unit.

16 . The detection apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the intensity-modulated light is detected for each optical frequency extracted by the extracting unit.

17 . The detection apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the detecting unit detects light whose intensity is modulated by stimulated Raman scattering caused by emitting the pulsed light generated by the first generating unit and the pulsed light generated by the second generating unit and passing through the noise reduction device to the sample.

18 . A detection apparatus comprising:
first and second generating units configured to generate pulsed light; a noise reduction device including a splitting unit configured to split the pulsed light generated by the second generating unit into three or more pulsed light beams, a delaying unit configured to provide the three or more pulsed light beams with different delay times, and a combining unit configured to combine the three or more pulsed light beams; and a detecting unit configured to detect light intensity modulation caused by emitting the pulsed light generated by the first ge

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Ishikawa Michio

Classifications

• G01J3/0218

  using optical fibers · CPC title

• G01J3/0224

  using polarising or depolarising elements · CPC title

• G01J3/0262

  Constructional arrangements for removing stray light · CPC title

• G02B6/2773

  Polarisation splitting or combining · CPC title

• G02B6/2726

  in or on light guides, e.g. polarisation means assembled in a light guide · CPC title