Accurate remote distance sensing by use of low-coherence interferometry: an industrial application

An apparatus for accurate remote distance sensing based on fiber-optic low-coherence light interferometry has been designed for molten glass level measurement. We demonstrate operation of the meter in an adverse industrial environment with <20-mum resolution (standard deviation) within a 20-mm range with the sensing head placed in an oven at ~800 degrees C. In laboratory conditions we were able to measure with 3-mum resolution, which could be improved to submicrometer level by optimization of a reference arm of the interferometer and detection electronics.     

White-light interferometry on rough surfaces--measurement uncertainty caused by surface roughness

White-light interferometry measuring an optically rough surface commonly does not resolve the lateral structure of the surface. This means that there are height differences within one resolution cell that exceed one-fourth of the wavelength of the light used. Thus the following questions arise: Which height is measured by white-light interferometry? How does the surface roughness affect the measurement uncertainty? The goal of the presented paper is to answer these questions by means of numerical simulations. Before the aforementioned questions can be answered, the distribution of the intensity of individual speckles, the influence of surface roughness, and the spectral width of the light source used are discussed.     

Discontinuous surface measurement by wavelength-tuning interferometry with the excess fraction method correcting scanning nonlinearity

Wavelength-tuning interferometry can measure surface shapes with discontinuous steps using a unit of synthetic wavelength that is usually larger than the step height. However, measurement resolution decreases for large step heights since the synthetic wavelength becomes much larger than the source wavelength. The excess fraction method with a piezoelectric transducer phase shifting is applied to two-dimensional surface shape measurements. Systematic errors caused by nonlinearity in source frequency scanning are fully corrected by a correlation analysis between the observed and calculated interference fringes. Experiment results demonstrate that the determination of absolute interference order gives the profile of a surface with a step height of 1?mm with an accuracy of 12?nm.     

半导体激光端点干涉测长法原理探讨

阐述利用半导体激光的频率变化和波长变化测量干涉仪光程差的基本原理，探讨一种在长度的两个端点干涉测量长度的新方法，即端点干涉测长法的原理，推导这种方法测量长度的公式，指出这种方法区别于其它干涉测长方法的独特优点，最后讨论测量中的注意事项以及需要深入研究的问题。     

白光相移干涉中频谱对测量精度的影响

在相移干涉中有时采用白光干涉来扩大深度测量范围,白光光源的使用,缩短了光束的相干长度,降低了测量精度。本文从干涉理论出发推导了白光相移干涉法测量三维表面形貌的计算公式,通过数值积分的方法分析了干涉光频谱对测量精度的影响。分析表明,在白光相移干涉测量中表面形貌的测量精度与中心波长和频谱宽度有关,白光频谱越宽,测量精度越低,中心波长越大,测量精度越高。     

Rangeability extension of fiber-optic low-coherence measurement based on cascaded multistage fiber delay line

We demonstrate a simple method to extend the measurable fiber length with a fiber-optic low-coherence technique. This method is based on a cascaded structure of multistage fiber delay line laid in one arm of the low-coherence technique. By choosing different individual stages in the cascaded fiber delay line, the length of the fiber under test can be continuously measured with a different measurement range. The measurement range of 0.81 km and spatial resolution of 60 μm are successfully realized.     

Measuring the focal length of optical systems by grating shearing interferometry

Using grating shearing interferometry, a new and simple technique to measure the effective focal length of optical systems is described. The diffraction pattern of a phase grating positioned at the focal point of the lens under test is evaluated for this purpose. The relative lateral shift between the undiffracted zero order and the diffracted first orders caused by the grating is measured. By utilizing knowledge of the wavelength of light, the grating period, and the diameter of an aperture stop placed in front of the test lens, we can determine the effective focal length of the test lens. Results of measurements are presented and compared with calculated values. The dependence of the focal length on the wavelength of the light is shown by using two laser sources of different wavelengths. An analysis of the measurement accuracy is given.     

Phase-stepped gauge block interferometry using a frequency-tunable visible laser diode

Frequency changes induced by bias or temperature modulation of injection diode lasers can provide an economical and effective method of applying phase-stepping interferometry to optical metrology. However, the intrinsic frequency instability of these devices limits their use in gauge block interferometry where precise and repeatable phase steps must be maintained simultaneously on two discontinuous surfaces and over relatively long path lengths. We demonstrate a method using a visible injection diode laser, the frequency of which is locked by using a Fabry-Perot interferometer. Small changes to the length of the Fabry-Perot interferometer shift the frequency of the laser producing proportional and repeatable phase steps to the gauge block interferogram. This method has been successfully implemented with a Fizeau-type gauge block interferometer with a phase measurement resolution of 0.005 lambda. The phase data are then processed to map the surface form of gauge blocks up to 100 mm in length and to objectively assess surface shape parameters.     

Multiple-wavelength digital holographic interferometry using tunable laser diodes

Here we present multiple-wavelength digital holographic interferometry with a wide measurement range using laser diodes. Small wavelength differences can be easily realized by the wavelength tuning of laser diodes with injection current controls. A contour map of an object with a wide measurement range and a high sensitivity is demonstrated by combining a few contour maps with several measurement sensitivities. Synthetic wavelengths are calibrated using a known height difference. This alleviates the need to have high precise knowledge of the recording wavelengths. The synthetic wavelengths ranged from ~3 mm for high measurement sensitivity to ~4 cm for wide measurement range. An rms error of ~35 mum for a ~1 cm height measurement is shown. The measured profile of holographic interferometry agrees with a standard stylus instrument.     

Speckle decorrelation in surface profilometry by wavelength scanning interferometry

The accuracy and the measurement range of surface profilometry by wavelength scanning interferometry applied to diffusely reflecting surfaces are investigated. The influences of surface roughness and the imaging system in the interferometer are theoretically analyzed by derivation of the autocorrelation function of interferograms arising from wavelength scanning. By using a dye laser with a tuning range of 4.2 nm to a yield resolution of 39.1 mum, we have observed interferograms and their Fourier transforms and autocorrelations to study effects of defocusing and the size ratio of speckle to the CCD pixel for a plane diffuse object positioned normal to the incident beam.     

Low-coherence interferometry in random media. II. Experiment

We present experimental results of measurements of light backscattering from semi-infinite disordered media by low-coherence interferometry (LCI). These results are compared with the theory developed in part I [J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 17, 2024 (2000)]. A comparison of the experimental data with the theoretical formulas based on the coherent phase approximation allows us to extract substantial information about the structure of the studied media. Our results demonstrate that LCI is an effective optical technique for studying nonuniform media even in the case in which the dimensions of nonuniformities are much less than the wavelength of the scattered light.     

Radio frequency controlled synthetic wavelength sweep for absolute distance measurement by optical interferometry

We present a new technique applied to the variable optical synthetic wavelength generation in optical interferometry. It consists of a chain of optical injection locking among three lasers: first a distributed-feedback laser is used as a master to injection lock an intensity-modulated laser that is directly modulated around 15 GHz by a radio frequency generator on a sideband. A second distributed-feedback laser is injection locked on another sideband of the intensity-modulated laser. The variable synthetic wavelength for absolute distance measurement is simply generated by sweeping the radio frequency over a range of several hundred megahertz, which corresponds to the locking range of the two slave lasers. In this condition, the uncertainty of the variable synthetic wavelength is equivalent to the radio frequency uncertainty. This latter has a relative accuracy of 10(-7) or better, resulting in a resolution of +/-25 microm for distances exceeding tens of meters. The radio frequency generator produces a linear frequency sweep of 1 ms duration (i.e., exactly equal to one absolute distance measurement acquisition time), with frequency steps of about 1 MHz. Finally, results of absolute distance measurements for ranges up to 10 m are presented.     

多波长测量技术

给出了3种多波长测量技术的应用实例,采用多波长二极管激光器干涉仪测量表面轮廓,3个二极管激光器分别发射780nm、823nm和825nm3种近红外光波,可以得到2个近似15μm和29μm的合成波长,激光二极管的注入电流用1MHz左右的3种不同频率调制,以获得干涉仪的相位调制,这3个干涉信号用1个光电检测器和锁相放大器检测,采用同样的干涉仪,仅用2种波长进行了圆度偏差测量,论述了相移干涉测量技术,其试件的长度表示为光源波长的倍数,如果只使用1种波长,则要求确切知道整数干涉级;而使用多种波长,如532nm、633nm和780nm时,可得到几个独立的长度,此时整数衍射级不同,可以通过“精确小数法”计算得到,PTB精密干涉仪长度测量不确定度很小,其单值性范围约0.6mm,因此其近似的长度估算足以满足超精密长度测量的要求。     

用于微位移测量的迈克尔逊激光干涉仪综述

迈克尔逊干涉术测量微位移可实现纳米甚至更高的分辨力,并且具备能直接溯源至激光波长等诸多优点,是目前微位移测量的重要技术手段.以限制迈克尔逊干涉仪品质提高的非线性误差为主要切入点,对目前各种基于迈克尔逊干涉原理的激光干涉技术进行了分类介绍,主要讨论了微位移测量中实现高精度和高分辨率的干涉测量技术,最后展望了激光干涉法测量...     

Fast surface profiler by white-light interferometry by use of a new algorithm based on sampling theory

We propose a fast surface-profiling algorithm based on white-light interferometry by use of sampling theory. We first provide a generalized sampling theorem that reconstructs the squared-envelope function of the white-light interferogram from sampled values of the interferogram and then propose the new algorithm based on the theorem. The algorithm extends the sampling interval to 1.425 microm when an optical filter with a center wavelength of 600 nm and a bandwidth of 60 nm is used. The sampling interval is 6-14 times wider than those used in conventional systems. The algorithm has been installed in a commercial system that achieved the world's fastest scanning speed of 80 microm/s. The height resolution of the system is of the order of 10 nm for a measurement range of greater than 100 microm.     

Absolute interferometric distance measurement using a FM-demodulation technique

We propose an interferometric method for measuring absolute distances larger than the wavelength. A laser diode is used as a light source. The principle of operation is based on multiple-wavelength interferometry that uses a modulated light source. This method uses the fact that the wavelength of light emitted by the laser diode can be varied by means of the injection current. The modulation of the injection current in combination with the optical heterodyne technique causes a high-frequency phase-modulated detector signal. The phase deviation of the signal is a measure of the optical path difference in the interferometer. By FM demodulation of the detector output with a phase-locked loop demodulator, the optical path difference can be determined directly without the classical ambiguity problem of interferometry. The measuring range in the experiments was limited to 50 mm by the maximum travel range of the used specimen translation stage. Because of the inherent light sensitivity of the method described, the rangefinder can be used for three-dimensional profile measurements on a wide variety of objects, even on diffuse scattering surfaces.     

Fundamental characteristics of a synthesized light source for optical coherence tomography

We describe the fundamental characteristics of a synthesized light source (SLS) consisting of two low-coherence light sources to enhance the spatial resolution for optical coherence tomography (OCT). The axial resolution of OCT is given by half the coherence length of the light source. We fabricated a SLS with a coherence length of 2.3 microm and a side-lobe intensity of 45% with an intensity ratio of LED1:LED2 = 1:0.5 by combining two light sources, LED1, with a central wavelength of 691 nm and a spectral bandwidth of 99 nm, and LED2, with a central wavelength of 882 nm and a spectral bandwidth of 76 nm. The coherence length of 2.3 microm was 56% of the shorter coherence length in the two LEDs, which indicates that the axial resolution is 1.2 microm. The lateral resolution was measured at less than 4.4 microm by use of the phase-shift method and with a test pattern as a sample. The measured rough surfaces of a coin are illustrated and discussed.     

Simultaneous measurement of temperature and chemical species concentrations with a holographic interferometer and infrared absorption

What is believed to be a new technique that allows for the simultaneous measurement of 2D temperature and chemical species concentration profiles with high spatial resolution and fast time response was developed and tested successfully by measuring a thin layer of fuel vapor created over a volatile fuel surface. Normal propanol was placed in an open-top rectangular container, and n-propanol fuel vapor was formed over the propanol surface in a quiescent laboratory environment. An IR beam with a wavelength of 8-13 mum emitted from a heated plate and a He-Ne laser beam with a wavelength of 632 nm were combined and passed through the n-propanol vapor layer, and both beams were absorbed by the vapor layer. The absorption of the IR beam was recorded by an IR camera, and the He-Ne laser was used to form a holographic interferogram. Two-dimensional temperature and propanol vapor concentration profiles were, respectively, determined by the IR absorption and the fringe pattern associated with the holographic interferogram. This new measurement technique is a significant improvement over the dual wavelength holographic interferometry that has been used previously to measure temperature and fuel concentration, and it is ready for application under different types of fire and flame conditions.     

Noncontacting Measurement of Distortion by Digital Holographic Interferometry

Digital holographic interferometry is a coherent‐optical method for noncontacting measurement of full field deformations in the micrometer‐range. While deformations in the range of the wavelength of the used laser‐light are determined by comparison of the phases of the wave fields reconstructed from the recorded holograms, for larger deformations the form of the object surface has to be measured by a holographic interferometric contouring method, followed by numerical comparison of two such measured contours. Here we present such methods for determining the distortions of hot moving components leading to a concept for an in‐process distortion measurement enabling early interaction with e. g. the quenching process to control the resulting distortion.     

Simultaneous measurement of surface shape and variation in optical thickness of a transparent parallel plate in wavelength-scanning Fizeau interferometer

Wavelength-scanning interferometry permits the simultaneous measurement of variations in surface shape and optical thickness of a nearly parallel plate. Interference signals from both surfaces of the test plate can be separated in frequency space; however, these frequencies are shifted from the expected frequency by the refractive-index dispersion of the test plate and any nonlinearity that is due to wavelength scanning. Conventional Fourier analysis is sensitive to this detuning of the signal frequency and suffers from multiple-beam interference noise. We propose new wavelength-scanning algorithms that permit a large tolerance for dispersion of the test plate and nonlinearity of scanning. Two 19-sample algorithms that suppress multiple-interference noise up to the second order of the reflectance of the test plate are presented. Experimental results show that the variation in surface shape and optical thickness of a glass parallel plate of 250-mm diameter was measured with a resolution of 1-2 nm rms.