Characteristics of Point-diffraction Interferometer for certification of high-precision optical system

고정밀 광학계 측정을 위한 점회절 간섭계의 특성 연구

The use of conventional Twyman and Fizeau interferometers inevitably fails in testing high precision optics because of errors always existing in reference elements producing the reference wavefront. Therefore it is necessary to apply to this task the interferometers of a radically new type, which are able to produce perfect reference wavefront with the help of light diffraction by a small obstacle or pinhole. In this paper new theoretical approaches and schematics of point diffraction interferometers are considered in detail with paying attention to constructive reliability. Such interferometers do not use reference optical surfaces and readily provide adequate estimation of errors and aberrations value of 0.01 wavelengths.