Influence of Geometric Length Perturbation of Optical Path on Measurement Error of Seawater Refractive Index

As the demand for high-precision measurements of refractive index variations in marine environments increases, eliminating potential sources of measurement errors has become an urgent issue. One of these error sources is the impact of optical path length perturbations. This study investigates the ef...

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Main Authors: Xinyi Zhang, Jiaxin Zhao, Hu Wang, Liyan Li, Songtao Fan, Yongjie Wang, Yan Zhou
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-02-01
Series:Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/13/3/473
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author Xinyi Zhang
Jiaxin Zhao
Hu Wang
Liyan Li
Songtao Fan
Yongjie Wang
Yan Zhou
author_facet Xinyi Zhang
Jiaxin Zhao
Hu Wang
Liyan Li
Songtao Fan
Yongjie Wang
Yan Zhou
author_sort Xinyi Zhang
collection DOAJ
description As the demand for high-precision measurements of refractive index variations in marine environments increases, eliminating potential sources of measurement errors has become an urgent issue. One of these error sources is the impact of optical path length perturbations. This study investigates the effect of optical path perturbations on the accuracy of the measurements using the interference method. By establishing an error analysis model, this study analyzes the systematic errors induced by optical path perturbations and verifies the error patterns under different refractive index variations through simulations and experiments. The results show that the errors introduced by optical path perturbations are linearly related to the magnitude of the perturbations, and the error increases as the magnitude of the perturbation grows. The error becomes negligible when the magnitude of the optical path perturbations relative to the measurement zone length is one order of magnitude smaller than the refractive index measurement accuracy. The experimental and simulation results are consistent, validating the accuracy of the model. This indicates that in high-precision seawater refractive index measurements using the interference method, perturbations in the measurement region cannot be ignored, and it is difficult to achieve higher measurement precision through physical vibration isolation alone, highlighting the urgent need for new solutions.
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publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
spelling doaj-art-e5f623720509436db805632c0ad9eb032025-08-20T02:42:34ZengMDPI AGJournal of Marine Science and Engineering2077-13122025-02-0113347310.3390/jmse13030473Influence of Geometric Length Perturbation of Optical Path on Measurement Error of Seawater Refractive IndexXinyi Zhang0Jiaxin Zhao1Hu Wang2Liyan Li3Songtao Fan4Yongjie Wang5Yan Zhou6Optoelectronic Systems Laboratory, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100083, ChinaOptoelectronic Systems Laboratory, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100083, ChinaOptoelectronic Systems Laboratory, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100083, ChinaOptoelectronic Systems Laboratory, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100083, ChinaOptoelectronic Systems Laboratory, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100083, ChinaOptoelectronic Systems Laboratory, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100083, ChinaOptoelectronic Systems Laboratory, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100083, ChinaAs the demand for high-precision measurements of refractive index variations in marine environments increases, eliminating potential sources of measurement errors has become an urgent issue. One of these error sources is the impact of optical path length perturbations. This study investigates the effect of optical path perturbations on the accuracy of the measurements using the interference method. By establishing an error analysis model, this study analyzes the systematic errors induced by optical path perturbations and verifies the error patterns under different refractive index variations through simulations and experiments. The results show that the errors introduced by optical path perturbations are linearly related to the magnitude of the perturbations, and the error increases as the magnitude of the perturbation grows. The error becomes negligible when the magnitude of the optical path perturbations relative to the measurement zone length is one order of magnitude smaller than the refractive index measurement accuracy. The experimental and simulation results are consistent, validating the accuracy of the model. This indicates that in high-precision seawater refractive index measurements using the interference method, perturbations in the measurement region cannot be ignored, and it is difficult to achieve higher measurement precision through physical vibration isolation alone, highlighting the urgent need for new solutions.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/13/3/473interference methodhigh-precision measurementsrefractive index variationsoptical path length perturbationssystematic errors
spellingShingle Xinyi Zhang
Jiaxin Zhao
Hu Wang
Liyan Li
Songtao Fan
Yongjie Wang
Yan Zhou
Influence of Geometric Length Perturbation of Optical Path on Measurement Error of Seawater Refractive Index
Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
interference method
high-precision measurements
refractive index variations
optical path length perturbations
systematic errors
title Influence of Geometric Length Perturbation of Optical Path on Measurement Error of Seawater Refractive Index
title_full Influence of Geometric Length Perturbation of Optical Path on Measurement Error of Seawater Refractive Index
title_fullStr Influence of Geometric Length Perturbation of Optical Path on Measurement Error of Seawater Refractive Index
title_full_unstemmed Influence of Geometric Length Perturbation of Optical Path on Measurement Error of Seawater Refractive Index
title_short Influence of Geometric Length Perturbation of Optical Path on Measurement Error of Seawater Refractive Index
title_sort influence of geometric length perturbation of optical path on measurement error of seawater refractive index
topic interference method
high-precision measurements
refractive index variations
optical path length perturbations
systematic errors
url https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/13/3/473
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AT liyanli influenceofgeometriclengthperturbationofopticalpathonmeasurementerrorofseawaterrefractiveindex
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