A holographic shearing interferometer for remote sensing of atmospheric disturbances

Summary form only given. Holographic interferometry is ideal for the detection of atmospheric disturbances; however, the necessity of propagating an unaberrated reference beam to the holographic recording medium often restricts holographic interferometry to use only in the laboratory. Even within the laboratory, if the sample region is located some distance from the source or the imaging optics, the use of interferometry can be difficult. In order to detect atmospheric disturbances remotely under non-ideal conditions we have developed a type of common-path holographic interferometer that works in cases where the source, disturbance, and observer are widely separated.