In this project the methods of creating a Heterodyne Phase Camera (HPC) and its performance are explored. The HPC maps the spatial wave front of two interfering laser beams described by plots of the relative phase of a signal incident on a CMOS camera. Allowing all the information contained in the beams to be studied. These phase maps can be displayed real-time or processed offline for a more detailed analysis. This cheap and easy to use camera is a versatile tool that can make measurements or characterize components in any experiments which require precision optical metrology.
