Cover story: Meng S, Chen L, Zhu W H, et al. Instantaneous wavefront measurement of large aperture optical elements[J]. Opto-Electronic Engineering, 2018, 45 (1): 170536. 

In order to measure the instantaneous wavefront of large aperture optical elements, a method based on the structure of oblique incidence of reflective shearing point diffraction interferometer is proposed by Chen Lei research group from Nanjing University of Science and Techonolgy. A lateral displacement between the reference wavefront and the test wavefront is formed after passing this structure. The shear of two beams introduces linear spatial carrier frequency to the point diffraction interferogram. After receiving a good contrast interferogram, wavefront phase is retrieved by Fourier transform (FT) automatically to realize the dynamic measurement of instantaneous wavefront. The optical path is up to 20 m, so the air current is a significance factor to the result. Besides, because of the air current, the system itself can be seen as a instantaneous wavefront happening and measurement of large aperture optical elements. The results indicate that the root mean square value is in accord with that acquired by SID4 wavefront sensor (less than 1/50λ),so about the repeated accuracy. The method proposed can be applied in high resolution and accuracy measurement of instantaneous wavefront. : In order to measure the instantaneous wavefront of large aperture optical elements, a method based on the structure of oblique incidence of reflective shearing point diffraction interferometer is proposed. A lateral displacement between the reference wavefront and the test wavefront is formed after passing this structure. The shear of two beams introduces linear spatial carrier frequency to the point diffraction interferogram. After receiving a good contrast interferogram, wavefront phase is retrieved by Fourier transform ( FT) automatically to realize the dynamic measurement of instantaneous wavefront. The optical path is up to 20 m, so the air current is a significance factor to the result. Besides, because of the air current, the system itself can be seen as a instantaneous wavefront happening and measurement of large aperture optical elements. The results indicate that the root mean square value is in accord with that acquired by SID4 wavefront sensor (less than 1/50λ), so about the repeated accuracy. The method proposed can be applied in high resolution and accuracy measurement of instantaneous wavefront.