Patent attributes
An inspection method for evaluating the performance of an optical component at high precision is provided. According to the inspection method, a first light beam 24 and a second light beam 26 both having different phases are generated from light which has passed through an optical component 18, and are interfered with each other to form an interference region 30. A linear line 66, a linear line 70 and linear lines 72 are set within the interference region 30 so as to determine a distribution of light intensities on each of the linear lines 72. Then, a frequency corresponding to the maximal light intensity is determined. Further, an approximated liner line or an approximated curved line is determined from a plurality of frequencies determined for each of the linear line 72. Then, the aberration of the optical component is evaluated based on the coefficient of the approximated linear or curved line.
