Optical component and wavefront analyzer comprising such an optical component

An optical component comprising:

• a hexagonal diffraction grating with a repeating pitch (p12) of a diffraction pattern along three axes of symmetry (A12) of the diffraction grating,
• characterized in that it further comprises:
• a microlens array, also hexagonal, made up of identical converging microlenses, and having a microlens pitch (p11) along three axes of symmetry (A11) of the microlens array,
• the optical component being arranged so that the diffraction grating is superimposed on the microlens array in a plane called the superposition plane (PS), or in that an image of the diffraction grating is superimposed on the microlens array in the superposition plane,
• the diffraction grating and microlens array being oriented so that in the superposition plane (PS), each axis of symmetry (A12) of the diffraction grating, or an image of each axis of symmetry of the diffraction grating, is angularly offset from one of the axes of symmetry (A11) of the microlens array by an angle which is between 10° and 50°,
• and a quotient of the microlens pitch (p11) over the repetition pitch of the diffraction pattern (p12), or over a repetition pitch of an image of the diffraction pattern in the superposition plane (PS), is between 2 and 18, values 2 and 18 being inclusive.

A method for analyzing a wavefront (S) of a beam (F) of electromagnetic radiation, comprising the following steps:

• providing an optical component which is in accordance with claim 1;
• directing the beam (F) of radiation through the optical component;
• arranging an image sensor downstream of the optical component with respect to a propagation direction of the radiation beam (F), so that a photosensitive surface of the image sensor intersects superposition volumes of sub-beams (SF−1, SF+1) which are produced by the optical component from the radiation beam;
• activating the image sensor to capture interferograms;
• and
• from the captured interferograms, determining piston deviation values that exist at the superposition plane (PS) in the wavefront (S) of the radiation beam (F).