Measurement of residual wedge angle with a reversal shear interferometer

A technique for determination of residual wedge angle of high optical quality transparent parallel plate using a reversal shear interferometer-based optical system has been discussed. In this technique the parallel plate to be tested is used to introduce angular tilt in the preset two-beam interference fringes of a reversal shear interferometer. The parallelism is calculated from the angular tilt of the fringes. The technique is more sensitive compared to techniques using Fizeau interferometer and is most suitable for highly parallel transparent plate with very low residual wedge angle.