Effect of Lateral Shear Interferogram on Path Difference in Coherent Optical Systems

Abstract

In this work, an analytical treatment for the wavefront propagation in optical systems is proposed. This treatment has taken into account the effects of lateral and radial shear interferograms between wavefronts as well as the order of the wavefront that depends on the incidence angle. Results showed that the wavefront ordinary and magnified deviations are convergent at low order rays while the high values of lateral shear can minimize the optical path difference between the propagating wavefronts.