In order to measure the instantaneous wavefront of large aperture optical elements, a method based on the structure of oblique incidence of reflective shearing point diffraction interferometer is proposed. A lateral displacement between the reference wavefront and the test wavefront is formed after passing this structure. The shear of two beams introduces linear spatial carrier frequency to the point diffraction interferogram. After receiving a good contrast interferogram, wavefront phase is retrieved by Fourier transform (FT) automatically to realize the dynamic measurement of instantaneous wavefront. The optical path is up to 20 m, so the air current is a significance factor to the result. Besides, because of the air current, the system itself can be seen as a instantaneous wavefront happening and measurement of large aperture optical elements. The results indicate that the root mean square value is in accord with that acquired by SID4 wavefront sensor (less than 1/50λ), so about the repeated accuracy. The method proposed can be applied in high resolution and accuracy measurement of instantaneous wavefront.

Instantaneous wavefront measurement of large aperture optical elements

An oblique incidence dynamic phase-shifting interferometer based on inclination angle deflection is proposed to quickly obtain the surface distribution of optical surface with flatness of micron dimension. A 2×2 point source array is introduced into a Michelson interference system, and the incidence angle of each point source on the interferometer cavity is adjusted precisely to induce equal phase shift. Spatial separation is realized in combination with a lens array. The four phase-shifting interferograms are captured simultaneously on a single CCD, thereby realizing dynamic measurement. The flatness of a 35 mm aperture silicon wafer is measured at oblique incidence angle of 68°, the root mean square (RMS) is 1.631 μm and peak-to-valley (PV) is 9.082 μm. The experimental results indicate that the proposed interferometer overcomes the disturbance of vibration environment and extends the measurement range of interferometer with high precision by introducing the simultaneous phase-shifting interferometry based on inclination angle deflection into the oblique incidence interference system.

Oblique incidence dynamic phase-shifting interferometer based on inclination angle deflection

Phase Retrieval Errors Analysis of Interferogram Using Two Dimensional Fast Fourier Transform Method

Wavelength phase shifting interferometry based on current modulation

This paper describes the fundamental and performance of a self-developed phase-shifting digital interferometer. This instrument can be used to test wavefront distortion of laser rods whose aperture is 30 mm with accuracy better than λ/20, the repeatability better than λ/50. The instrument has four characters: magnification changing, focusing , luminous flux controlling, and changeover of adjustment and test. Software based on the platform of windows98 can finish interferogram sampling, processing and wavefront drawing, the operation is easy and convenient. The whole testing only spends 26 seconds. This instrument can also measure the refractive-index homogeneity, the flatness, the angle error, the wedge angle of crystal element. By testing the same samples with Zygo GPI-XP, both results were same.

Laser Rods Wavefront Distortion Testing Instrument

In order to measure the transmission wavefront of laser rods and to improve the edge diffraction effect of small-aperture laser rods measured by Tayman or Fizeau interferometer, a variable-inclination Mach-Zehnder interferometer was proposed. The incident angle was changed by adjusting the tilting attitude of the phase shifting reflector, then the optical path difference was changed that the phase shift was introduced to the coherent light and the phase shifting interferometry was realized. The transmission wavefront of a laser rod (Nd:YAG) with the diameter of 6 mm and the length of 60 mm was measured by this interferometer, the peak-valley (PV) and root mean square (RMS) of the wavefront were 0.391λ and 0.056λ. The same laser rod was measured by ZYGO GPI XP interferometer, the peak-valley (PV) and root mean square (RMS) were 0.370λ and 0.064λ. The comparison results show that the interferometer can achieve high-precision detection of transmission wavefront of laser robs. The variable-inclination Mach-Zehnder interferometer has high phase-shifting precision and wide phase-shifting range, and the beam in the system can pass through the laser rod only once, which can suppress the multi-beam interference and improve the edge diffraction effect of the small-aperture laser rods.

Wu Zhifei

Papers

Variable-inclination Mach-Zehnder interferometer for testing laser robs