Sandra D. O'Connor, a prominent Arizona jurist with Republican political ties, has emerged as a leading candidate for the Supreme Court vacancy that will be created tomorrow when Justice Potter Stewart retires. Administration officials confirmed that O'Connor had been interviewed for the job.

She is believed to be the only potential nominee interviewed so far, and she is one of a few candidates, most of them of women, whose name appears on a "short list" kept by top White House aides and Attorney General William French Smith. "She hasn't been chosen yet, but she's close," said one source.

O'Connor, a judge of the Arizona Court of Appeals, has risen quickly through the state's political and professional circles, impressing colleagues with her intellect, demeanor, organizational ability and conservative views.

The 51-year-old jurist was third in the Stanford law school class in which Justice William Rehnquist finished first. She received one of the highest ratings of any judge evaluated in a 1980 state bar poll -- 90 percent favorable. In addition to her legal credentials, O'Connor has strong backing from Arizona's senators -- Barry Goldwater (R) and Dennis DeConcind (D), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee -- and from former House Republican leader John Rhodes.

"She's what the president's looking for," DeConcini said. "She believes in the court, interpreting the law, not making it."

This was the criterion President Reagan laid down when he announced Stewart's