Large aperture interferometer with phase-conjugate self-reference beam

A large aperture self-referencing interferometer consisting of a Twyman-Green interferometer using a self-pumped phase conjugator in series with test section optics is described and experimentally demonstrated. This interferometer provides twice the fringe shift of a Mach-Zehnder (M-Z) interferometer for a given optical phase change induced within the test section. It also provides greater irradiance in the reference beam than does a similar series setup utilizing a M-Z interferometer incorporating a local reference beam. Whereas the ordinary interferometer records instantaneous conditions, the new one records overage conditions if a BaTiO3 crystal is used as the phase conjugator.