This experiment clearly demonstrates for the first time the testing of a beamsplitter using the temporal coherence behavior of a low-power laser beam in a Michelson interfero-metric experimental setup. The circular fringes obtained for unequal arm lengths are not one but more than two, and the comparison with an uncoated simple glass plate clearly shows that such improperly coated beamsplitters cannot be used in sensitive optical experiments without further reflection and antireflection coatings.
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