Influence of refractive index dispersion on pulse shaping in white-light interferometry

Particularities of interference signal shaping in white-light interferometer with uncompensated dispersive layer are discussed. We especially attended to dependence of interference pulse position on the dispersive layer properties. Phase refractive index of the layer tends to be substantially nonlinear function of wavelength within the wide emission band of ultra-low coherence thermal light source. In this case, it is the group refractive index dispersion that is beginning to exert an influence on interference signal formation. It is shown experimentally that influence consists in nonlinear dependence of interference pulse position on geometrical thickness of the dispersive layer. The results show that mismatch of the dispersive layer and compensator refractive indices in the third place can produce interference signal shift on the order of pulse width.