Abstract
The Point Diffraction Interferometer (PDI) is a self-referencing interferometer. A reconfigurable PDI based optical system provided with the automatic control of the alignment has been developed to study fluids in microgravity. It will be flown on board of the IML2 Space Shuttle mission as a part of the Bubble Drop and Particle Unit (BDPU). Main features of the developed system are the automatic control of the alignment and the possibility of changing configuration (from a PDI scheme into a Dark Field mode of operation). To minimize the payload specialist manipulations the system is completely automatic, i.e. the alignment of the system during the start-up operations and the change of configuration are made automatically. System performances have been evaluated during laboratory tests on the apparatus and will be presented here. Future improvements of the PDI apparatus have also been investigated. They mainly concern the laser source, the alignment search procedure and the mechanism of the positioning of the diagnostic tools on the test beam.
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