Analysis of measuring features of interferometric methods for studying “weak” optical inhomogeneity with a small transverse size

Abstract

Comparative analysis of interference methods, which are most promising for studying optical inhomogeneities with a small transverse size, is carried out. It is shown based on analysis of interference fringes for the two most widely used interferometric methods (two-beam interferometry with a reference wave and lateral-shear interferometry) that in the case of a lateral shift exceeding the geometrical size, lateral-shear interferometry shows twice as high sensitivity as that of double-beam interferometry with a reference wave and is more promising for estimating the size of “weak” optical inhomogeneities.