Measurement of wedge angle of a transparent parallel plate using quasi-monochromatic light source and phase shifting interferometry

A new technique (to our knowledge), for the measurement of residual wedge angle (RWA) of high optical quality transparent nearly parallel plate (PP). using a quasi-monochromatic light source, is presented. Advantages and drawbacks of the technique and the results obtained for a PP, using a filtered white light source, is discussed. A slightly modified optical setup for accurate determination of RWA, using phase shifting interferometry (PSI), has been described. Results obtained, applying PSI, for a validation experiment and for the determination of RWA of a quasi-PP is presented. The PSI based technique does not suffer from any measurement ambiguities due to limitation in effective beam aperture. Hence the technique is suitable for high accuracy measurement of RWA of PP. In both the optical setups, presented in this paper, the respective interfering beams travel the same optical circuit and are thus subject to same perturbation in optical path, due to external mechanical vibration, which finally cancels out. Thus the measurements are much less affected by external vibrations. Since the respective interfering beams undergo identical reflections and transmissions, the visibility or contrast of the interference fringes is very good. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.