Patent · US Expired

Achromatic optical interferometer with continuously adjustable sensitivity

US6577403B1 · kind B1 · utility

8Cited by
1References
5Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 13, 2000
Grant dateJun 10, 2003
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 22, 2021

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01J9/0215
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

In a process for analyzing the wavefront of a light beam, a diffraction grating with rectangular meshing is placed in a plane perpendicular to the light beam to be analyzed and optically conjugate with the analysis plane. Different emergent beams from the grating interfere to form an image whose deformations are related to the slopes of the wavefront analyzed. The grating multiplies an intensity function, implemented by a two-dimensional intensity grating, which defines a rectangular meshing of sub-pupils transmitting the light from the beam to be analyzed into a plurality of emergent beams disposed in accordance with a rectangular meshing, with a phase function implemented by a two-dimension phase grating which introduces a phase shift between two adjacent emergent beams such that the two emergent beams are in phase opposition.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.