New design of precision CMM based upon volumetric phase-measuring interferometry

Abstract

A new design of high precision CMM is proposed by introducing a volumetric interferometer system that is capable of measuring the complete spatial motion of the probe in six degrees of freedom. This design is intended to allow the CMM measurement to be free from the Abbe offsets and angular motion errors of slide ways. The volumetric interferometer operates on the principle of phase-measuring interferometry and determines the 3-D coordinates of the probe by monitoring the interference intensity of the two spherical wavefronts emanated from two optical fibers of single mode propagation.