Vibration Compensating Beam Scanning Interferometer for Surface Measurement

Light beam scanning using a dispersive element and wavelength tuning is coupled with fiber-optic interferometry to realize a new surface measurement instrument. The instrument is capable of measuring nanoscale surface structures and form deviations. It features active vibration compensation and a small optical probe size that may be placed remotely from the main apparatus. Active vibration compensation is provided by the multiplexing of two interferometers with near common paths. Closed loop control of a mirror mounted on a piezoelectric transducer is used to keep the path length stable. Experiments were carried out to deduce the effectiveness of the vibration compensation and the ability to carry out a real measurement in the face of large environmental disturbance.