Analysis of a micropolarizer array-based simultaneous phase-shifting interferometer

Recent technological innovations have enabled the development of a new class of dynamic (vibration-insensitive) interferometer based on a CCD pixel-level phase-shifting approach. We present theoretical and experimental results for an interferometer based on this pixelated phase-shifting technique. Analyses of component errors and instrument ftinctionality are presented. We show that the majority of error sources cause relatively small magnitude peak-to-valley errors in measurement of the order of 0.002-0.005 lambda. These errors are largely mitigated by high-rate data acquisition and consequent data averaging. (c) 2005 Optical Society of America