Talk:Mach-Zehnder interferometer
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Are there always two detectors in a Mach-Zender? I'm pretty you only really need one, perhaps depending on the application. -- DrBob 17:03, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)
According to Optics, Hecht, 4th edition, you need only one. I currently don't have time to rewrite the article though. -- Gerritholl 08:58, 20 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Don't phase shifts only occur during reflection off a material with higher n and never during refraction? If so then there are fewer phase shifts than the article states in the last paragraph. Chad 11/8/2005
There is a phase shift of pi upon reflection on a medium with higher index of refraktion, as you say. There is also never a phase shift caused by the process of refraction itself (off the top of my head, this wouldn't be compatible with the boundary conditions of the fields, but this might be entirely wrong). I think what the author means in this case is a difference in phase compared to what the light would have, had it traversed the same path in vacuum. Basically, the optical path length difference nglassx − nairx -- Osquar F 9 Oct 2006
