A Double Refracting Interference Microscope with Continuously Variable Amount and Direction of Wavefront Shear

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Abstract
A double refracting interference microscope, which is capable of giving uniform and fringe interference field with both the amount and direction of image duplication continuously variable, has been developed. A combination of two simultaneously acting birefringent prisms, separated by a half-wave plate and inserted between a polarizer and analyser, is used. One of these prisms, of the Nomarski type, is incorporated in objectives and is rotatable round the objective axis. Rotation of this prism enables the amount and direction of image duplication to be changed. The other prism, of the Nomarski or Wollaston type, is placed in the microscope tube and can be slid in a direction perpendicular to the microscope axis. This translation serves for shifting the phase of interfering light waves, for measuring the optical path difference between an object under investigation and its surrounding medium. As a source of coherent light a slit diaphragm located in the front focal plane of a condenser is used. Both the slit diaphragm and half-wave plate, as well as the polarizer, are rotatable around the microscope axis when the objective birefringent prism is turned. Advantages and application possibilities of this system are discussed.

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