By an ordinary type microinterferometer, the transmitted interference fringe can be observed by the transparent replica from the surface to be measured.
These experiments are mainly carried out on the case that the liquid is placed between the replica surface and the reference mirror.
In this case, the fringe spacing is accepted to be equivalent to λ/2 (
n1-
n2), (λ is the wave length of the monochromatic light employed,
n1 the refractive index of the replica, and
n2 the refractive index of the liquid employed), so that the measurement of surfaces rougher than those measured by an ordinary microinterferometer is possible. Some examples observed by this method are indicated and its applications are described in this paper.
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