Félix Gudin, Nicolas Forget
Infrared heterodyne interferometry offers a scalable alternative to direct interferometry for long-baseline telescope arrays. However, at near-infrared wavelengths, its sensitivity is limited by the electronic detection bandwidth and shot noise from the optical reference. Parallel detection via spectral multiplexing has long been identified as a potential means to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of heterodyne interferometers. We propose a new heterodyne detection architecture based on highly dispersed broadband pulses from a mode-locked laser, fast photoreceivers, and numerical correlation. This enables straightforward spectral multiplexing with commercial components to increase the SNR, while extending instantaneous wavelength coverage to simultaneous J- and H-band operation. The scheme also supports high-resolution spectroscopic imaging ($R \simeq 10^{3}-10^{4}$). We derive the SNR of a two-arm heterodyne interferometer based on balanced photodetection and apply the model to the proposed scheme, using measurements from a single-spectral-channel, all-fiber interferometer operating at 1.56 micrometer over an 8 nanometer bandwidth. We experimentally demonstrate an SNR exceeding 2 for a spectral flux density of 188 pW/nm, with an integration time of 0.4 ms. Scaling the integration time and number of spectral channels suggests that fringe visibility of the brightest H-band stars could be achieved with 1 m$^2$ telescopes within the typical atmospheric coherence time. These results represent a significant step toward broadband, scalable heterodyne interferometers, demonstrating the potential of ultrafast laser and telecommunications technologies for astronomical interferometry in the J+H bands. By combining broadband spectral multiplexing with numerical correlation, the architecture also opens a route to direct spectro-imaging without an additional spectrometer.