Figure 9: The relation between the phase of the light field amplitudes at a beam splitter can be
computed assuming a Michelson interferometer, with arbitrary arm length but perfectly-reflecting
mirrors. The incoming field is split into two fields and which are reflected atthe end
mirrors and return to the beam splitter, as and , to be recombined into two outgoing fields.
These outgoing fields and are depicted by two arrows to highlight that these are the sum
of the transmitted and reflected components of the returning fields. We can derive constraints for
the phase of and with respect to the input field from the conservation of energy:
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