Abstract

Measurement of optical transfer functions making use of a wavefront-shearing interferometer usually requires the path difference between the two arms of the interferometer to be varied.

The same effect can be achieved by a polarizing technique and, depending on the polarizing arrangement, either the modulus, or the real and imaginary parts of the optical transfer function can be recorded.

The theory of these two methods is given and the experimental procedure is described. Transfer functions for a defocused optical system are measured and are in good agreement with calculated results. Some of the problems involved in the measurement of the argument of the transfer function with an interferometer are also briefly discussed.

© 1966 Optical Society of America

New Interferometer for the Measurement of Modulation Transfer Functions*†

Anthony J. Montgomery
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 54(2) 191-198 (1964)

Measurement of Modulation Transfer Functions in the Presence of Astigmatism*†

Anthony J. Montgomery
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 54(4) 519-522 (1964)

Measurement of Transfer Functions of Photographic Objectives by Means of a Polarizing Shearing Interferometer

Tadao Tsuruta
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 53(10) 1156-1161 (1963)

A New Type of Shearing Interferometer for the Measurement of Transfer Functions of the Microscope Objective

Tadao Tsuruta
Appl. Opt. 2(4) 371-378 (1963)

Autocorrelation method for measuring the transfer function of optical systems

C. P. Grover and H. M. van Driel
Appl. Opt. 19(6) 900-904 (1980)