Patent ID: 8797539

Claim:
An interferometer system for generating a virtually referenced interference pattern, the system characterized by: a) a wave generating source operable to emit a wave through one or more test paths; b) an interferometer with one or more test paths; e) a detector for measuring a physical spectral interference pattern produced; d) a processor for modulating and analyzing the physical spectral interference pattern produced in the interferometer; wherein the physical spectral interference pattern produced in the interferometer is mixed with a simulated virtual reference spectral interference pattern via an operation in the spectral domain; wherein the result of such operation results in a spectral interference pattern with a high frequency component and a low frequency component; wherein the low frequency component contains information about the difference between the properties of the one or more test paths and the simulated virtual reference pattern; wherein the simulated virtual reference pattern balances the group delay in the interferometer at a given wavelength such that the low frequency component is equivalent to that which would be produced by physically balancing the group delay in the interferometer at that wavelength.