The plane parallel plate (PPP) and wedge plate (WP) interferometers are the simplest configurations for collimation testing. These elements are usually used in reflection due to high fringe visibility. The reflection coated wedge plate acting as a shearing interferometer both in reflection and transmission is recently reported. This multiple beam wedge plate lateral shear interferometer (MBWPLSI) used for collimation testing gives superior performance compared to an uncoated wedge plate interferometer. In this paper, some aspects of the multiple beam interferometer and its use in the double pass configuration are presented. Double pass results in a system of fringes in which adjacent fringes rotate and split in opposite directions for a non-collimated beam resulting in further improvement in the setting sensitivity.

Date Published: 12 December 1994
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 2340, Interferometry '94: New Techniques and Analysis in Optical Measurements, (12 December 1994); doi: 10.1117/12.195929

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2340:
Interferometry '94: New Techniques and Analysis in Optical Measurements
Malgorzata Kujawinska; Krzysztof Patorski, Editor(s)