Experimental verification of reconstruction of two interfering wavefronts using the transport of intensity equation

Abstract

Recently the transport–of–intensity equation (TIE) has extended from one wave to two waves and then applied to calculate the phase of the interference field. In this work we will present the experimental verification of the application of TIE in the reconstruction of two interfering wavefronts. A Fizeau interferometer with phase shift capability is used for testing a flat surface. An error analysis is performed on the difference between the reconstructed wavefronts using TIE and the one measured wavefronts using phase shifting method. The error analysis shows some systematic errors with RMS value less than 0.5rad or λ/10. The issues such as computation time and spatial resolution of the reconstructed waves are discussed and possible applications of the presented method are given.