Interferometer Research

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An optical interferometer utilizes the phenomena of interference of light beams based on the wave nature of light. Two-beam interferometry is the most common tool for evaluating optical surfaces. The basic working principle of two beam interferometer is that two wavefronts of coherent light, one is called test object wavefront and other is called reference wavefront, recombine after travelling different paths and give an interference fringe pattern. The geometrical properties of the interference fringe pattern are determined by the difference in optical path traveled by the recombined wave fronts. The interferometers measure the difference in optical paths in units of wave length λ of the light used. Since the optical path is the product of the geometrical path and the refractive index of the medium, an interferometer measures either the difference in geometrical path when beams traverse the same medium or the difference of the refractive index when the geometrical paths are equal.
The fundamental principle behind interference is that when two or more coherent electromagnetic waves e...

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