Rotational–Shearing Interferometry

A brief review of lateral- and radial-shearing interferometry is presented together with a thorough discussion of the theory of rotational-shearing interferometry. A rotational-shearing interferometer is described based on the Jamin principle that was built by the authors while at the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York. Graphs and photographs of the interference patterns of the lenses and a lightweight mirror that were tested with this interferometer are presented and discussed. Finally, the effect of the size of the source on the degree of coherence of the interference pattern is considered.