Michelson's interferometer and the temporal coherence of pulse trains

We show that space-time resolved measurements of interference patterns produced by an equal-path Michelson's interferometer with tilted mirrors allow one to construct the two-time mutual coherence function (MCF) associated with temporally partially coherent pulse trains. If the pulses are quasi-stationary in the sense that the coherence time is less than similar to 25% of the pulse width, conventional time-integrated measurements with Michelson's interferometer provide the correct MCF. Such time-integrated measurements, combined with suitable calibration processes, are sufficient for the determination of the MCF also if the complex degree of temporal coherence is independent of the absolute time, provided that the mean temporal intensity distribution of the pulses is known. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America