Calibration method to characterize the accuracy of phase-shifting point diffraction interferometer

Characterization of measurement accuracy of the phase-shifting point diffraction interferometer (PSPDI) is usually performed by two-pinhole null test. In this procedure, the geometrical coma and detector tilt astigmatism systematic errors are almost one or two magnitude higher than the desired accuracy of PSPDI. These errors must be accurately removed from the null test result to achieve high accuracy. Published calibration methods, which can remove the geometrical coma error successfully, have some limitations in calibrating the astigmatism error. In this paper, we propose a method to simultaneously calibrate the geometrical coma and detector tilt astigmatism errors in PSPDI null test. Based on the measurement results obtained from two pinhole pairs in orthogonal directions, the method utilizes the orthogonal and rotational symmetry properties of Zernike polynomials over unit circle to calculate the systematic errors introduced in null test of PSPDI. The experiment using PSPDI operated at visible light is performed to verify the method. The results show that the method is effective in isolating the systematic errors of PSPDI and the measurement accuracy of the calibrated PSPDI is 0.0088λ rms (λ = 632.8 nm).