Holographic lateral shearing interferometry with the displacement of an object under study

A new method of the holographic lateral shearing interferometry is considered. In the method, the recording of the reference holographic lateral shear interferogram is followed by the displacement of an object under study by a distance equal to the lateral shear. The method provides the simultaneous recording of several aberration-free interference patterns representing with the different sensitivity the changes in the phase of the light wave, introduced by the object under study. The method has been tested experimentally to detect optical inhomogeneities in a cylindrical crystal of the active medium of a solid-state laser.