Tilt sensor based on the angular dispersion of the transmission coefficient of an interface between two media

An analysis was made of the feasibility of constructing a sensor for measuring the tilt of a wavefront based on the dispersion dependence of the transmission of an interface between two transparent media on the angle of incidence. A study was made of the main characteristics of such a sensor and it was found that the threshold sensitivity in respect to the angle was determined by the power of a probe light beam and by the noise of a photodetector. Expressions were obtained for the range of the angles of incidence and for the transmission of a multibeam interferometer based on the angular dispersion of the reflection coefficient of an interface between insulators with different refractive indices. It was found that an interferometer of this type could ensure a higher sharpness of the fringes than a transverse wavefront-shearing interferometer and could be used to determine the wavefront profile.