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I'd like to write this sentence:

In both excitation and emission beam path a Mach-Zehnder interferometer is introduced, both of which exhibiting equal delays.

I don't like the style of the sentence, because I use two times 'both'. I am not even sure it is grammatically correct, as the subordinate clause refers to two interferometers, although I put the 'interferometer' in singular. I was playing around with some other structures, but I wasn't satisfied. Does anybody have any suggestions how to transform the sentence to proper English?

Thanks a lot!

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    The sentence says the same if both of which is deleted. – mama Feb 17 '19 at 12:49
  • Do you mean that there are two interferometers, one in the exitation beam path and one in the emission beam path? If so part of your problem is that you have not made that indisputably clear at the outset. – BoldBen Feb 17 '19 at 13:05
  • The sentence seems like it needs a article or two. – JDF Feb 17 '19 at 13:28
  • It’s okay as is. In technical writing, using the same construction helps the reader stay on track. – Global Charm Feb 17 '19 at 18:35
  • @BoldBen Yes, I see that. You think this would work: "In each excitation and emission beam path one Mach-Zehnder interferometer is introduced, both of which exhibiting equal delays." It sounds a bit odd to me, but this it was offered by my dictionary as the translation to a possible unambiguous expression in German – user25485 Feb 18 '19 at 8:21
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There are many grammatically correct ways you can convey what you are trying to convey with this sentence. I don't understand what most of the stuff in the sentence is so if my suggestion needs some tweaking please do so. It is more about changing the structure.

Original

"In both excitation and emission beam path a Mach-Zehnder interferometer is introduced, both of which exhibiting equal delays."

Suggestions

What is tripping me up here is the tense. Everything is happening in the present tense which is valid but it causes the sentence to sound clunky and it makes the structure difficult to massage.

Here is one possibility: "A Mach-Zehnder interferometer is introduced in the excitation and emission beam path resulting in equal delays."

or (In case the words 'resulting in' and 'exhibited' aren't synonymous enough in this context)

"A Mach-Zehnder interferometer is introduced in the excitation and emission beam path where each exhibits equal delays." -- This is not perfect but it simplifies the structure of the sentence.

Hopefully something here puts you on the road to a final answer.

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