**Point Diffraction Interferometry**

Point Diffraction Interferometry

Daodang Wang and Rongguang Liang

Daodang Wang and Rongguang Liang

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/65907

### Abstract

The point diffraction interferometer (PDI) employs a point-diffraction spherical wavefront as ideal measurement reference, and it overcomes the accuracy limitation of reference optics in traditional interferometers. To overcome the limitation of measurement range either with pinhole (low light transmission) or with single-mode fiber (low NA), a single-mode fiber with narrowed exit aperture has been proposed to obtain the point-diffraction wavefront with both high NA and high power. It is a key issue to analyze the point-diffraction wavefront error in PDI, which determines the achievable accuracy of the system. The FDTD method based on the vector diffraction theory provides a powerful tool for the design and optimization of the PDI system. In addition, a high-precision method based on shearing interferometry can be applied to measure point-diffraction wavefront with high NA, in which a double-step calibration including three-dimensional coordinate reconstruction and symmetric lateral displacement compensation is used to calibrate the geometric aberration. The PDI is expected to be a powerful tool for high-precision optical testing. With the PDI method, a high accuracy with RMS value better than subnanometer can be obtained in the optical surface testing and submicron in the absolute three-dimensional coordinate measurement, demonstrating the feasibility and wide application foreground of PDI.

Keywords: point diffraction, optical testing, pinhole, optical fiber, wavefront sphericity
