New Interferometer for the Measurement of Modulation Transfer Functions*†

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Abstract
The method of measurement of the transfer function of an optical system using a wavefront-shearing interferometer to solve the optical transfer integral ∫ ∫ ƒ(x+s/2, y)ƒ*.(x-s/2, y)dxdy is now well known. It is very important in using an interferometer in this way that there should be no tilt between the two sheared wavefronts. To this end a new form of interferometer has been designed and constructed in which there is self-compensation for tilt, so that changes in the orientations of the beam splitter and mirrors do not affect the parallelism of two wavefronts leaving the interferometer. Good agreement between the measured and calculated modulation transfer functions for a defocused optical system proved that the instrument is capable of measuring the modulation transfer functions of optical systems in monochromatic light.

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