Fiber-optic interferometer for surface profile measurement with vibration suppression

Abstract

We describe an improved design of fiber-optic interferometer intended to measure surface profiles with enhanced capability of vibration suppression. The reference wavefront is generated directly from the measurement wave using a multi-mode fiber that eliminates only the spatial wavefront distortion by means of bend loss. The temporal fluctuation caused by vibration is consequently cancelled out in the process of interference since it becomes to exist in both the measurement and reference waves. Further, an injection locking technique is incorporated to stabilize the reference wave intensity and hence make stable the interferometric fringe intensity. Experimental result proves that the proposed fiber-optic interferometer is capable of producing sub-wavelength measurement precision even in the presence of severe vibration with 100-mu m amplitude. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America