The project aims at studying the functioning of an optical coherence scheme that make use of a nonlinear interferometer. We will consider the best configuration, the sensitivity that can be achieved and the maximum power that can be generated.

We derive what is the signal and the sensitivity of a nonlinear interferometer (Mach-Zehnder or Michelson), that is a novel approach to perform Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). The physical idea behind this goes back to seminal work done by L. Mandel?s group in 1991 [1]. We demonstrate that the use of input coherent light improve the strength of the detected signal in terms of intensity, noise and sensitivity. Finally, we present the counterintuitive differences between considering a single frequency beam or a beam with a certain bandwidth.