Abstract
A generator of fringes of variable frequency is described as consisting of only two Wollaston prisms W1 and W2 with attached polarizers P1 and P2. A properly oriented half-wave plate H1 is situated between W1 and W2. When the two Wollaston prisms are counterrotated by an equal angle ϕ about an axis joining the geometrical centers of their faces, fringes appear of variable frequency f=4(Ne − N0) tanα cosϕ, where α is the angle of the prisms, Ne and N0 are the principal indices. When the fringe pattern is projected by a demagnifying microscope lens, the contrast remains constant up to 280 lines/mm.
© 1965 Optical Society of America
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