Effect of beam quality on tilt measurement using cyclic interferometer

Accurate measurement of angles is extremely important in various metrological applications. Interferometry has always been an excellent technique for accurate measurements. Several methods have been proposed for accurate tilt measurement using interferometric techniques. Almost all of them use the Michelson configuration which is extremely sensitive to environmental vibrations and turbulences. We know that a cyclic interferometer is extremely stable. Even though it is not sensitive to displacement changes, it is twice sensitive to tilt compared to that of a Michelson interferometer. We have enhanced the sensitivity to measure tilt using multiple reflections in a cyclic interferometer. Since the input beam is collimated, we have studied the effect of aberration of the input beam on the accuracy of tilt measurement. Experimental results on this study are presented in this paper.