Quantitative measurement of large-aperture aspheric surfaces by off-axis Ronchi test

An off-axis Ronchi test based on the phase-shifting technique is presented to measure the aspheric mirror quantitatively. In this paper, slopes of deviations from the mirror's ideal aspheric shape are derived when an off-axis point source is used. By integrating these slopes, the deviations of the shape are obtained and then the tested shape can be reconstructed. Compared with the coaxial Ronchi test, the measurement error caused by combination fringes can be avoided, and this system is more flexible. In the experiment, a marked point is used to guide the phase unwrapping procedure, which improves the accuracy of extracting corresponding phase points. In addition, the method has strong anti-noise ability. The validity of the method has been verified by both computer simulations and a preliminary experiment.

► An off-axis Ronchi test is presented to measure the aspheric mirror quantitatively.
► Slopes of deviations of the shape are derived with an off-axis point source.
► A marked point is used to guide the phase unwrapping procedure in the experiment.
► Measurement error caused by combination fringes can be avoided.
► This measurement system is more flexible because an off-axis point source is used.