Abstract

The process of light scattering superimposes on an incident "carrier" beam an amplitude and phase modulation which precisely mirrors the scattering fluctuations. Using the photoelectric effect one may detect this carrier modulation by the methods of heterodyne or homodyne demodulation familiar in the radio frequency and microwave domain. We shall review applications of this form of very high resolution optical spectroscopy to diverse problems in Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Engineering.

© 1996 Optical Society of America