Abstract

We demonstrate the use of a mirror as a viewing diaphragm to generate a built-in diffracted reference beam in schlieren diffraction interferometry (SDI). The use of a mirror edge as a diffracting element instead of a conventional knife edge considerably enhances the contrast of the schlieren pattern, and it is shown to be equal to that of a phase knife edge. This increase in contrast is due to the fact that the otherwise unutilized diffracted beam in SDI is recombined in the described folding mirror geometry.

© 2006 Optical Society of America

Single Beam Schlieren Interferometer Using a Wollaston Prism

R. D. Small, V. A. Sernas, and R. H. Page
Appl. Opt. 11(4) 858-862 (1972)

Rainbow schlieren vs Mach-Zehnder interferometer: a comparison

Walton L. Howes
Appl. Opt. 24(6) 816-822 (1985)

High spatial resolution schlieren photography

J. W. Hosch and J. P. Walters
Appl. Opt. 16(2) 473-482 (1977)

Special features of Newton-type fringe formation in a diffraction interferometer

Voldemar P. Koronkevich, Galina A. Lenkova, and Aleksey E. Matochkin
Appl. Opt. 45(1) 44-52 (2006)

Diffractive grazing-incidence interferometer

Peter de Groot
Appl. Opt. 39(10) 1527-1530 (2000)