Effects of unparallel grating planes in Talbot interferometry II

The properties of the moiré fringes in Talbot interferometry are analyzed for a small inclined angle beta between the two grating planes, which is produced by rotation of the beam splitter grating about the axis perpendicular to the lines of the grating. Theoretical analyses indicate that the tilt angle of the resultant moiré fringes is less sensitive to beta than when the small inclined angle is formed by rotation of the beam splitter grating about the axis parallel to the lines direction of the grating as described earlier [Appl. Opt. 38, 4111 (1999)] and that contrast of the moiré fringes decreases with an increase in beta or in the spatial frequency of the grating and may result in impaired measurement accuracy. The validity of the theoretical analyses is illustrated by experiments.