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This Letter reports a new, to the best of our knowledge, technique for the quality testing of steep optical samples by introducing an absolute interferometry method based on a double-slit interference experiment. We determine the quality of the sample with an ultrahigh-dynamic-range wavefront sensor by determining the deformation of the central fringe of the double-slit interferometer recorded for two different separations of the slits. The transmission function of the double slit is implemented on an amplitude spatial light modulator. Therefore, the slits’ location can be easily displaced over the entire area of the sample’s wavefront. We applied the proposed method on two samples: a microscope slide and a conventional ophthalmic lens, and maximum absolute phase variations of 0.33 and 26.7 rad were measured, respectively. Our estimation shows that an absolute phase variation of about 700 rad can be measured with this method.

In this work, the theory of self-imaging in the polar coordinates for azimuthally periodic Bessel-based structures (APBBSs) is presented. For the first time, to the best of our knowledge, we define single- and multi-frequency APBBSs and show that these structures have self-images under plane-wave illumination. We also define sinusoidal and binary-like single-frequency APBBSs and theoretically and experimentally investigate the near-field diffraction of these structures. The diffraction from these structures provides 2D arrays of optical traps that can be used in multi-trapping.

We measure wavefront (WF) distortions in a high-power thin-disk laser induced simultaneously by the gas-lens/wedge and disk front-surface deformation using a two-channel moiré-based WF sensor. Thermal lensing and tilting effects are characterized versus time, their pressure-dependent fluctuations are quantified, and finally the corresponding pure disk front-surface effects are estimated for zero pressure. A divergent probe beam with a WF mean curvature similar to the curvature of the disk is reflected off the disk front surface. The temporal evolution of the WF at laser start-up is characterized using the WF sensor. A camera records both temporal evolution of the moiré fringe patterns and the intensity profile of the laser beam to have simultaneously both phase and intensity profiles of the laser beam. Successive WF data quantify the temporal evolutions of the dioptric power and induced wedges in two directions and their fluctuations during laser operation. We investigate the effect of air pressure on the produced gas-lens/wedge. The method is not sensitive to translational vibrations and is very low cost with adjustable sensitivity.

A novel approach based on the two-channel moir\'e deflectometry has been used to measure both wave-front and transverse component of the Poynting vector of an optical vortex beam. Generated vortex beam by the q-plate, an inhomogeneous liquid crystal cell, has been analyzed with such technique. The measured topological charge of generated beams are in an excellent agreement with theoretical prediction., Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures

When a slightly divergent laser beam passes through a turbulent ground level atmosphere and strikes a linear grating, fluctuating self-images are formed at Talbot distances. By superimposing a similar grating on one of the self-images, even for the case of parallel gratings' lines, fluctuating moire fringes are formed owing to the beam divergence. Recording the successive moire patterns by a CCD camera and feeding them to a computer, after filtering the higher spatial frequencies, produces highly magnified fluctuations of the laser beam. Using moire fringe fluctuations we have calculated the fluctuations of the angle of arrival and the atmospheric refractive index structure constant. The implementation of the technique is straightforward, a telescope is not required, fluctuations can be magnified more than ten times, and the precision of the technique is similar to that reported in our previous work.

An instrument has been built for the study of the atmospheric turbulence by measuring the fluctuation of the angle of arrival across a telescope aperture using moiré deflectometry. A slightly divergent laser beam passes through a turbulent ground level atmosphere and enters the telescope aperture. The laser beam is recollimated behind the telescope's focal point by means of a collimator. The collimated beam passes through a moiré deflectometer. The fluctuating self-image of the first grating is formed on the second grating of the moiré deflectometer and fluctuating moiré fringes are formed. Using moiré fringe fluctuations we have calculated the fluctuations of the angle of arrival, the Fried's parameter r(0), and the atmospheric refractive index structure constant. Because of the magnifications of the telescope and moiré deflectometry, the precision of the technique can potentially be 1 order of magnitude more precise than previous methods.

There are several methods for measuring ground-level atmospheric turbulence parameters, such as the refractive index profile and its fluctuations, correlations of the fluctuations in space and time, and the atmospheric refractive-index structure constant. These methods are based mainly on the measurement of fluctuations in intensity and location of an image formed by light propagating in the turbulent atmosphere or the fluctuations in impinging points of narrow light beams traversing the ground-level atmosphere. Exploiting the moiré technique, we suggest a high-precision approach for determining fluctuaions in the angle of arrival. When a low-frequency grating (carrier grating) is installed at a suitable distance from a telescope, its image, practically, forms on the focal plane of the telescope objective. Superimposing a physical grating (probe grating) of the same pitch as the image grating on the image forms the moiré pattern. The atmospheric turbulence distorts the image grating. Processing the fluctuations of successive moiré fringes can yield the mentioned parameters across a rather large cross section of the atmosphere with high accuracy, because of the moiré technique's magnifying character and access to a large volume of data, and does so in a comparatively simple and reliable manner.