Special features of Newton-type fringe formation in a diffraction interferometer.

An interferometer with a Fresnel zone plate located in the center of curvature of a concave mirror was studied. Attention was paid to the unique features of the interference field, which has a special point at which the path difference is equal to zero, thereby allowing for the observation of Newton-type fringes in white and quasi-monochromatic light. The conditions necessary for reducing the instrumental error to values less than lambda/20 were determined.