Phase switch
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A phase switch is a device used to increase the discrimination and sensitivity of an interferometer, especially at radio frequencies; an extra half-wave path difference is switched in, at well defined frequency, between the two interfering signal sources. In-phase signals then become out of phase and vice versa, so that the signal output becomes modulated by the switching frequency, and can be more easily filtered from the internally-generated noise. (The discrimination is highest for sources which are small compared with the interferometer-fringe spacing)
Its use in radio astronomy is generally credited to Martin Ryle, and used extensively in the 1C radio survey.
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