Abstract
In this paper the influence of inaccuracies of the optical retarders on the isochromatic and isopachic fringes obtained by holographic photoelasticity is studied. For the single-exposure hologram it is shown that the isochromatic visibility decreases as for light- and dark-field configurations, whereas the isochromatic fringes are distorted only for the dark-field configuration. For the double-exposure hologram it is shown that the isopachic fringes are generally distorted; with the isochromatics there is a decrease of fringe visibility. Experimental results confirming the theory are reported.