In an attempt to fulfil a need for fast reduction of interferograms, an electronic analog device has been constructed. The device displays synthesized interferograms on a cathode ray tube in real time for viewing. The synthesizer displays interference fringes for the common optical aberrations: defocus, spherical aberration, coma, and astigmatism. In addition, the piston, x-tilt, and y-tilt aberrations are available for phase shifting. All can be displayed individually or in combination. The magnitude of each aberration is calibrated and can be adjusted over eight wavelengths. The interferogram synthesizer (IS) was conceived as a possible tool for use in the fast reduction of unknown interferograms. The operator attempts to match the IS display to the pattern in the unknown interferogram. Once a reasonable correlation between the two is arrived at, the operator simply reads off the magnitudes of the various aberrations from the synthesizer's readout.

However, it soon became apparent that the IS also provides an exceptional educational tool. For those involved with interferometry the instructional value of viewing interference patterns with arbitrary combinations and relative amounts of aberration is enormous.