Computational program to evaluate local defects type Chalmers Test on a reflective optical surface

Abstract

A computational tool is developed to measure the local deformations in optical surfaces from the interference patterns obtained by the Chalmers test principle and from the analysis of a reflective optical surface using a commercial Fizeau interferometer of the ZYGO. The tests were made on a concave spherical mirror with a radius of curvature of 60 cm and a diameter of 13 cm. To obtain the measurements of local deformations, a computational tool proposed for the localization of dark fringes is used by evaluating the maximum and minimum of the image obtained in the interference patterns. The results obtained show that the computational tool allows locating fringes within an interference pattern, allowing faster inter-fringe measurements and assigning an error on the surface in terms of wavelength.