A Mach-Zehnder interferometer is an optical device that determines relative phase shift between two laser paths. This phase shift can be caused by a sample, such as changes in sample thickness, refractive index, or incidence angle.

The Mach-Zehnder interferometer configuration is shown in this simulation. A laser emits a monochrome beam. A beam splitter splits the beams by allowing 50% of the light to be transmitted, and 50% to be reflected. Two mirrors direct the two beams to meet at a second beam splitter, which combines the two into one beam. A detector the propation of the summed beam and the corresponding fringes. The resultant fringe width are a function of the laser wavelength.

This simulation has three sets of parameters that can be varied by the user:

1. View Parameters: Use to change the lighting of simulation.
2. Laser Parameters: Vary beamWidth to see changes in fringe intensity. Vary laserType to see different fringe widths.
3. Sample Paramters: Vary refractiveIndex to see phase shifts as a function of refractiveIndex. sampleAngle and sampleThickness both illustrate the relation between sample thickness as phase shift.