A simple model is developed to estimate the fringe field geometry at the intersection of two Gaussian laser beams. Comparison of the model results to experimentally measured fringe spacing demonstrates that while the model predicts the fringe geometry well when the beam waists are far from the intersection volume, it performs poorly under nominally ideal conditions- when the beam waists are located at the intersection. Data obtained with two different laser sources indicate that the discrepancies between the theory and experiment are likely due to deviations of the laser beam from an ideal Gaussian beam. With a high quality laser, the details of the fringe field geometry are still not well duplicated by the Gaussian beam model, although the magnitude of the variation in fringe spacing and the effect of the controlling system parameters are correctly predicted
