Numerical calculation based study of spectral anomalies and their applications in modified Mach–Zehnder interferometer

The anomalous spectral behavior of polychromatic light in a modified Mach–Zehnder (MMZ) Interferometer is studied. In our numerical analysis, we found that, by varying the path difference between the interfering beams in the MMZ interferometer, one may find drastic spectral changes in the vicinity of dark rings of the interference field. In addition we extend the study to explore possibilities for information encoding and transmission in free-space using temporal coherence-induced spectral switching. By using unique features of the MMZ interferometer we propose two interesting prototype of optical devices for single channel and 1×2 channel (one input port and two output port) information transmission through spectral anomalies of interference pattern. The prototypes are based on contrived ideas and may find applications in developing spectral switching based optical devices.