A different setup of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer for testing the convergent wave front is described. A Shack cube is used to replace a traditional recollimator and a parallel-plate beam splitter. An equivalent pupil model has been suggested that describes the point diffraction mechanism. The calibration procedures for the Mach-Zehnder interferometer are described. The Shack-cube beam splitter has the advantages of compactness and better reference-beam quality compared with the recollimator and the parallel-plate beam splitter. (C) 1996 Optical Society of America
