Sub-Aperture Interferometers

Sub-aperture interferometers -- also called wavefront-split interferometers -- have been developed for simultaneously measuring displacements of multiple targets. The terms "sub-aperture" and "wavefront-split" signify that the original measurement light beam in an interferometer is split into multiple sub-beams derived from non-overlapping portions of the original measurement-beam aperture. Each measurement sub-beam is aimed at a retroreflector mounted on one of the targets. The splitting of the measurement beam is accomplished by use of truncated mirrors and masks, as shown in the example below