O1.2 - An auto-focusing approach for a dynamic quadrature interferometer

Event
SENSOR+TEST Conferences 2009
2009-05-26 - 2009-05-28
Congress Center Nürnberg
Band
Proceedings OPTO 2009 & IRS² 2009
Chapter
OPTO 1 - Interferometry
Author(s)
A. Gollwitzer, S. Haugg, G. Fischerauer - Universität Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany
Pages
29 - 34
DOI
10.5162/opto09/o1.2
ISBN
978-3-9810993-6-2
Price
free

Abstract

The measurement of surface vibrations with small amplitudes is often accomplished using interferometric techniques. For a good local resolution of the vibration amplitudes, the laser beam has to be focused on the surface through a high magnification lens. Owing to the small depth of focus of this lens, its distance to the surface has to be controlled accurately and precisely. In order to avoid the nonlinear components present in heterodyne interferometers (such as acousto-optic modulators) and to simultaneously eliminate the effects of noise sources such as fluctuations in the surface reflectivity of the device under test, we use a homodyne setup with additional path length modulation. The sensitivity of the setup is increased by quadrature interferometry, i. e., the synchronous measurement of the intensities detected by two photodiodes. We also present a signal processing technique for the control of the distance between lens and surface; this makes sure that the laser beam is optimally focused onto the surface and leads to a high overall signal-to-noise ratio.

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