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The technique of wide field imaging for optical/IR interferometers for missions like Space Infrared Interferometric (SPIRIT), Submillimeter Probe of the Evolution of Cosmic Structure (SPECS), and the Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF-I)/DARWIN has been demonstrated through the Wide-field Imaging Interferometry Testbed (WIIT). In this paper, we present an optical model of the WIIT testbed using the commercially available optical modeling and analysis software FRED. Interferometric results for some simple source targets are presented for a model with ideal surfaces and compared with theoretical closed form solutions. Measured surface deformation data of all mirror surfaces in the form of Zernike coefficients are then added to the optical model compared with results of some simple source targets to laboratory test data. We discuss the sources of error and approximations in the current FRED optical model. Future plans to refine the optical model are also be discussed.

This paper describes computational results obtained with a high-fidelity optical model of the Wide-Field Imaging Interferometry Testbed (WIIT). The WIIT model includes imperfections inherent in the hardware testbed, such as deviations of the mirrors from their ideal shapes. Model interferograms (brightness in a detector pixel as a function of optical delay) are presented here for several representative test scenes "observed" with multiple interferometric baselines. The results match theoretical expectations and can be compared with real WIIT measurements to identify and characterize instrumental and environmental artifacts in our laboratory data, and to aid in the interpretation of those data.

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