A New Lateral Shearing Interferometer for Measurement of Engineering Surfaces

摘要

A new common-path polarized lateral shearing interferometer for on-line precision surface monitoring is proposed. In the interferometer, a shear generator, made of a birefringence crystal, is designed and applied. The shear generator permits the interferometer to be simple in mechanism and to possess the property of common optical path. In addition, it permits convenient shear adjustment and phase shifting operations. The interferometer has a high immunity to external vibrations and atmospheric disturbances, and has good stability, while it has a high accuracy for engineering surface inspections.