Wedge-plate shearing interferometers for collimation testing: use of a moire technique

Abstract

Various optical arrangements of a double-wedge-plate shearing interferometer are presented for checking laser beam collimation. The use of moire fringes is found to be advantageous for setting the shear fringes parallel to the direction of shear in order to obtain a well-collimated laser beam. The experimental procedure and various details of the interferometer are discussed. A brief summary of a few methods for collimation testing that use a wedge plate is also given. The accuracies achievable with shearing interferometers that use a parallel plate, a wedge plate of small angle, a double wedge having a large wedge angle, a wedge plate of large angle along with two flat mirrors, and a wedge plate having a large angle are compared and summarized.