DIFFERENTIAL SINUSOIDAL PHASE MODULATION LASER INTERFEROMETRIC NANOMETER DISPLACEMENT MEASURING APPARATUS AND METHOD

Abstract

The disclosure discloses a differential sinusoidal phase modulation laser interferometric nanometer displacement measuring apparatus and method. The beam output from the single-frequency laser is converted into a 45° linearly polarized beam after passing through the polarizer, then projected onto two sets of sinusoidal phase modulation interferometers consisting of the beam splitter, the electro-optic phase modulator, the half wave plate, three pyramid prisms, two polarization beam splitters, thereby forming measurement and reference interference signals which are received by two photodetectors. A high-frequency sinusoidal voltage signal is applied to the electro-optic phase modulator placed in the common reference arm of the two interferometers, thereby modulating the interference signal into a high-frequency AC signal. By detecting the difference between the phase change amounts of the two interference signals when the measured object moves, the measured displacement can be obtained.

Description

BACKGROUND

Field of the Disclosure

The disclosure relates to a laser interferometric displacement measuring method and apparatus, in particular to a differential sinusoidal phase modulation laser interferometric nanometer displacement measuring apparatus and method, belonging to the technical field of precision measurement.

Description of Related Art

High-precision nanometer displacement measurement is of great importance in the application of technical fields such as ultra-precision machining, micro-electronics manufacturing, and precise test and measurement. Laser interferometry measurement is widely applied in high-end manufacturing, precise measurement, big science research and other fields because of its large measurement range, high measurement accuracy and direct traceability to the laser wavelength. Based on the difference between the interference signal processing methods, they are mainly categorized into single frequency interferometry, heterodyne interferometry and sinusoidal phase modulation interferometry. Single frequency interferometry by nature detects the DC light intensity. The DC light intensity drift, direct subdivision of interference fringes and non-quadrature interference signal will result in larger error. Heterodyne interferometry is an AC detection, which can overcome the influence of DC light intensity drift. But, due to the first-order nonlinearity errors caused by frequency mixing and polarization mixing, the improvement of measurement accuracy is limited. Sinusoidal phase modulation interferometry modulates the DC interference signal of single frequency interferometer into a high-frequency sinusoidal carrier and its harmonic signal sidebands, which can improve the anti-interference ability of the interference signal. However, it is difficult to improve the accuracy of displacement measurement due to temperature changes and environmental fluctuations of the reference arm and the measurement arm of the interferometer during the measurement process.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

In view of the deficiencies in the related art, the purpose of the disclosure is to provide a differential sinusoidal phase modulation laser interferometric nanometer displacement measuring apparatus and method. Two sets of sinusoidal phase modulation interferometers are constructed simultaneously, an electro-optic phase modulator is placed in the common reference arms of the two interferometers, and the DC interference signals of the two interferometers are modulated into high-frequency sinusoidal carrier AC signals. The difference between the phase change amounts of the two interference signals is demodulated and calculated to obtain the measured displacement, thereby realizing sub-nanometer displacement measurement.

The technical solution adopted by the disclosure for solving its technical problem is:

1. A differential sinusoidal phase modulation laser interferometric nanometer displacement measuring apparatus:

The apparatus includes a single-frequency laser, a polarizer, a beam splitter, a half glass plate, an electro-optic phase modulator, a first pyramid prism, a first polarization beam splitter, a second pyramid prism, a third pyramid prism, a second polarization beam splitter, a first photodetector and a second photodetector. The beam emitted from the single-frequency laser is converted into a linearly polarized beam with 45° polarization direction with respect to beam propagation direction after passing through the polarizer. Then, is incident on the beam splitter for transmission and reflection. The reflected output beam from the beam splitter is modulated into s-polarized beam after passing through the half glass plate, which is then modulated by the electro-optic phase modulator and then projected onto the first pyramid prism to be deflected and reflected. The reflected beam from the first pyramid prism passes through the half glass plate again and then becomes 45° linearly polarized beam and is incident on the beam splitter for transmission. The transmitted output beam from the beam splitter is incident on the first polarization beam splitter for reflection and transmission, and respectively divided into two orthogonal linearly polarized beams in s-polarization and p-polarization. The s-polarized beam reflected by the first polarization beam splitter is projected onto the second pyramid prism for deflection and reflection. The p-polarized beam transmitted by the first polarization beam splitter is projected onto the third pyramid prism for deflection and reflection. The s-polarized beam reflected by the second pyramid prism and the p-polarized beam reflected by the third pyramid prism return to the first polarization beam splitter prism and are combined into an orthogonal linearly polarized beam and then incident to the beam splitter for reflection. The 45° linearly polarized beam passed through the half glass plate and the orthogonal linearly polarized beam returned from the first polarization beam splitter prism are merged at the beam splitter. Specifically, interference is generated between the s-polarized component of the 45° linearly polarized beam and the s-polarized component of the orthogonal linearly polarized beam to form an s-polarized interference signal; and interference is generated between the p-polarized component of the 45° linearly polarized beam and the p-polarized beam of the orthogonal linearly polarized beam to form a p-polarized interference signal. The s-polarized interference signal serves as a reference interference signal and is received by the first photodetector after being reflected by the second polarization beam splitter. The p-polarized interference signal serves as a measurement interference signal and is received by the second photodetector after being transmitted by the second polarization beam splitter.

The polarization transmission direction of the polarizer is 45° to the beam propagation direction.

The optical axis of the half glass plate is 22.5° to the beam propagation direction.

The electro-optic phase modulator is placed between the half glass plate and the first pyramid prism, and modulates the s-polarized beam output from the half glass plate and transmitted to the first pyramid prism. The electric field of the electro-optic phase modulator is applied along with the polarization direction of s-polarized beam.

2. A differential sinusoidal phase modulation laser interferometric nanometer displacement measuring method:

1) The beam with a wavelength of 2 emitted from the single-frequency laser is converted by the polarizer into linearly polarized beam with 45° polarization direction with respect to beam propagation direction after passing through the polarizer, and is respectively projected onto the reference sinusoidal phase modulation interferometer consisting of the beam splitter, the half glass plate, the electro-optic phase modulator, the first pyramid prism, the first polarization beam splitter and the second pyramid prism as well as the measurement sinusoidal phase modulation interferometer consisting of the same beam splitter, the half glass plate, the electro-optic phase modulator, the first pyramid prism, the first polarization beam splitter and a different third pyramid prism, thereby forming the reference interference signal and the measurement interference signal respectively, and then are received by two photodetectors (11, 12) after being split by the second polarization beam splitter.

2) The electro-optic phase modulator is placed between the half glass plate and the first pyramid prism of the sinusoidal phase modulation interferometer, and modulates the s-polarized beam emitted from the half glass plate and incident into the first pyramid prism. A high-frequency sinusoidal carrier voltage with electric field direction is consistent with the polarization direction of the s-polarized beam is applied to the electro-optic phase modulator, thereby modulating the interference signals of the reference sinusoidal phase modulation interferometer and the measurement sinusoidal phase modulation interferometer into high-frequency sinusoidal carrier AC interference signals.

3) The third pyramid prism is fixed on the object to be measured. When the third pyramid prism is moved a displacement ΔL, the PGC phase demodulation method is adopted to obtain the phase change amount Δφ_R of the reference interference signal and the phase change amount Δφ_M of the measurement interference signal, which are respectively as follows:

${\mathrm{\Delta \varphi }}_R=\frac{2\pi ·\left({\delta L}_M-{\delta L}_R\right)}{\lambda }$ ${\mathrm{\Delta \varphi }}_M=\frac{2\pi ·\left(2·\Delta L+{\delta L}_M-{\delta L}_R\right)}{\lambda }$

In the above formula, λ is the laser wavelength, δL_R is the fluctuation of the optical path length between the beam splitter and the first pyramid prism caused by temperature drift and environmental disturbance during the movement of the third pyramid prism, and δL_M is the fluctuation of the optical path length between the beam splitter and the first polarization beam splitter caused by temperature drift and environmental disturbance during the movement of the third pyramid prism.

4) By calculating the difference between the phase change amount of the measurement interference signal and the phase change amount of the reference interference signal, the measured displacement ΔL is obtained by using the following formula:

$\Delta L=\frac{\left({\mathrm{\Delta \varphi }}_M-{\mathrm{\Delta \varphi }}_R\right)}{2\pi }\times \frac{\lambda }{2}$

Thus, the movement displacement of the third pyramid prism is obtained.

The advantageous effects of the disclosure are:

(1) The disclosure includes two sets of sinusoidal phase modulation interferometers. By applying a high-frequency sinusoidal modulation voltage to the electro-optic phase modulator in the common reference arms of the two interferometers, the DC interference signals of the two interferometers are modulated into high-frequency sinusoidal carrier AC interference signals, thereby improving the anti-interference ability of interference signal.

(2) When the third pyramid prism is moving, the phase change amount of the measurement interference signal and the phase change amount of the reference interference signal are detected, and the difference between the phase change amounts of the two interference signals of the two interferometers is calculated to obtain the measured displacement. The error caused by temperature drift and environmental disturbance is eliminated, so the measurement result can achieve an accuracy up to sub-nanometer level and is about 88 pm.

(3) The optical path structure is simple and easy to use. The disclosure is mainly suitable for displacement measurement at sub-nanometer precision level involved in the fields of ultra-precision machining, micro-electronics manufacturing, and precise test and measurement.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the apparatus and method of the disclosure.

In FIGURE: 1. Single-frequency laser, 2. Polarizer, 3. Beam splitter, 4. Half glass plate, 5. Electro-optic phase modulator, 6. First pyramid prism, 7. First polarization beam splitter, 8. Second pyramid prism, 9. Third pyramid prism, 10. Second polarization beam splitter, 11. First photodetector, 12. Second photodetector.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The disclosure will be further described in details hereinafter with the Figures and Embodiments.

As shown in FIG. 1, the disclosure includes a single-frequency laser 1, a polarizer 2, a beam splitter 3, a half glass plate 4, an electro-optic phase modulator 5, a first pyramid prism 6, a first polarization beam splitter 7, a second pyramid prism 8, a third pyramid prism 9, a second polarization beam splitter 10, a first photodetector 11 and a second photodetector 12. The beam emitted from the single-frequency laser 1 is converted into a linearly polarized beam with 45° polarization direction with respect to beam propagation direction after passing through the polarizer 2. Then, is incident on the beam splitter 3 for transmission and reflection. The reflected output beam from the beam splitter 3 is modulated into s-polarized beam after passing through the half glass plate 4, which is then modulated by the electro-optic phase modulator 5 and then projected onto the first pyramid prism 6 to be deflected and reflected. The reflected beam from the first pyramid prism 6 passes through the half glass plate 4 again and then becomes 45° linearly polarized beam and is incident on the beam splitter 3 for transmission. The transmitted output beam from the beam splitter 3 is incident on the first polarization beam splitter 7 for reflection and transmission, and respectively divided into two orthogonal linearly polarized beams in s-polarization and p-polarization. The s-polarized beam reflected by the first polarization beam splitter 7 is projected onto the second pyramid prism 8 for deflection and reflection. The p-polarized beam transmitted by the first polarization beam splitter is projected onto the third pyramid prism 9 for deflection and reflection. The s-polarized beam reflected by the second pyramid prism 8 and the p-polarized beam reflected by the third pyramid prism 9 return to the first polarization beam splitter prism 7 and are combined into an orthogonal linearly polarized beam and then incident to the beam splitter 3 for reflection. The 45° linearly polarized beam passed through the half glass plate 4 and the orthogonal linearly polarized beam returned from the first polarization beam splitter prism 7 are merged at the beam splitter 3. Specifically, interference is generated between the s-polarized component of the 45° linearly polarized beam and the s-polarized component of the orthogonal linearly polarized beam to form an s-polarized interference signal; and interference is generated between the p-polarized component of the 45° linearly polarized beam and the p-polarized beam of the orthogonal linearly polarized beam to form a p-polarized interference signal. The s-polarized interference signal serves as a reference interference signal and is received by the first photodetector 11 after being reflected by the second polarization beam splitter 10. The p-polarized interference signal serves as a measurement interference signal and is received by the second photodetector 12 after being transmitted by the second polarization beam splitter 10.

Denoting the interferometer composed of the beam splitter 3, the half glass plate 4, the electro-optic phase modulator 5, the first pyramid prism 6, the first polarization beam splitter 7 and the second pyramid prism 8 as the reference sinusoidal phase modulation interferometer, denoting the interferometer composed of the beam splitter 3, the half glass plate 4, the electro-optic phase modulator 5, the first pyramid prism 6, the first polarization beam splitter 7 and the third pyramid prism 9 as the measurement sinusoidal phase modulation interferometer, as can be seen from FIG. 1, the optical path between the beam splitter 3 and the first pyramid prism 6 constitutes the common reference arm of the reference interferometer and the measurement interferometer; the optical path between the beam splitter 3, the first polarization beam splitter 7 and the second pyramid prism 8 constitutes the measurement arm of the reference interferometer; and the optical path between the beam splitter 3, the first polarization beam splitter 7 and the third pyramid prism 9 constitutes the measurement arm of the measurement interferometer.

Two sets of interferometers are formed as described above. The electro-optic phase modulator 5 is used to modulate the DC interference signal of the interferometer into a high-frequency sinusoidal carrier AC signal. When the third pyramid prism 9 fixed on the object to be measured moves, it makes the phase of the measurement interferometer to change, by detecting the phase change amounts of the two interferometers, the displacement can be calculated and obtained more accurately.

The polarization transmission direction of the polarizer 2 is 45° to the beam propagation direction, and the optical axis of the half glass plate 4 is 22.5° to the beam propagation direction.

The electro-optic phase modulator 5 is placed between the half glass plate 4 and the first pyramid prism 6, and modulates the s-polarized beam output from the half glass plate 4 and transmitted to the first pyramid prism 6. The electric field of the electro-optic phase modulator 5 is applied along with the polarization direction of s-polarized beam.

The implementation process of the disclosure is as follows:

Denoting the interferometer composed of the beam splitter 3, the half glass plate 4, the electro-optic phase modulator 5, the first pyramid prism 6, the first polarization beam splitter 7 and the second pyramid prism as the reference sinusoidal phase modulation interferometer, denoting the interferometer composed of the beam splitter 3, the half glass plate 4, the electro-optic phase modulator 5, the first pyramid prism 6, the first polarization beam splitter 7 and the third pyramid prism 9 as the measurement sinusoidal phase modulation interferometer, as can be seen from FIG. 1, the optical path between the beam splitter 3 and the first pyramid prism 6 constitutes the common reference arm of the reference interferometer and the measurement interferometer; the optical path between the beam splitter 3, the first polarization beam splitter 7 and the second pyramid prism 8 constitutes the measurement arm of the reference interferometer; and the optical path between the beam splitter 3, the first polarization beam splitter 7 and the third pyramid prism 9 constitutes the measurement arm of the measurement interferometer.

At the beginning of the measurement, denoting L_CR as the common reference arm optical path length of the reference interferometer and the measurement interferometer, denoting L_M1 as the measurement arm optical path length of the reference interferometer, and denoting L_M2 as the measurement arm optical path length of the measurement interferometer. When the electro-optic phase modulator 5 is applied a high-frequency sinusoidal voltage, the reference and measurement interference signals received by the two detectors are:

$\begin{array}{cc}{S}_1\left(t\right)=S_{01}+S_{11}\cos \left(z\mathrm{cos\omega }t+2\pi ·\frac{L_{M1}-L_{\mathrm{CR}}}{\lambda }\right)& \left(1\right)\\ S_2\left(t\right)=S_{02}+S_{12}\cos \left(z\mathrm{cos\omega }t+2\pi ·\frac{L_{M2}-L_{\mathrm{CR}}}{\lambda }\right)& \left(2\right)\end{array}$

In the formula, S₀₁ and S₁₁ respectively represent the DC component and AC component amplitude of the reference interference signal, S₀₂ and S₁₂ respectively represent the DC component and AC component amplitude of the measurement interference signal, λ is the laser wavelength, ω is the frequency of the sinusoidal voltage applied to the electro-optic phase modulator 5, and z is the sinusoidal phase modulation depth.

It can be seen from formulas (1) and (2) that the reference interference signal and the measurement interference signal are modulated into high-frequency sinusoidal carrier AC signals, and the phase φ_R of the reference interference signal and the phase φ_M of the measurement interference signal are obtained by using the PGC phase demodulation method, which are respectively as follows:

$\begin{array}{cc}{\varphi }_R=\frac{2\pi \left(L_{M1}-L_{\mathrm{CR}}\right)}{\lambda }& \left(3\right)\\ {\varphi }_M=\frac{2\pi \left(L_{M2}-L_{\mathrm{CR}}\right)}{\lambda }& \left(4\right)\end{array}$

The third pyramid prism 9 is moved a displacement ΔL. In this process, being affected by temperature drift and environmental disturbance, the optical path length of the common reference arm and measurement arms of the two interferometers will change. Denoting the optical path length fluctuation from the beam splitter 3 to the first pyramid prism 6 as δL_R, denoting the optical path length fluctuation from the beam splitter 3 to the first polarization splitter 7 as δL_M, then the phases of the reference interference signal and the measurement interference signal become as follows:

$\begin{array}{cc}{\varphi }_R^{\prime }=\frac{2\pi \left(L_{M1}-L_{\mathrm{CR}}+{\delta L}_M-{\delta L}_R\right)}{\lambda }& \left(5\right)\\ {\varphi }_M^{\prime }=\frac{2\pi \left(L_{M2}+2\Delta L-L_{\mathrm{CR}}+{\delta L}_M-{\delta L}_R\right)}{\lambda }& \left(6\right)\end{array}$

And the phase change amounts of the two interference signals are:

$\begin{array}{cc}{\mathrm{\Delta \varphi }}_R={\varphi }_R^{\prime }-{\varphi }_R=\frac{2\pi ·\left({\delta L}_M-{\delta L}_R\right)}{\lambda }& \left(7\right)\\ {\mathrm{\Delta \varphi }}_M={\varphi }_M^{\prime }-{\varphi }_R=\frac{2\pi ·\left(2·\Delta L+{\delta L}_M-{\delta L}_R\right)}{\lambda }& \left(8\right)\end{array}$

In the formula, Δφ_R represents the phase change amount of the reference interference signal, and Δφ_M represents the phase change amount of the measurement interference signal.

According to formulas (7) and (8), the moving displacement ΔL of the third pyramid prism 9 is obtained by:

$\begin{array}{cc}\Delta L=\frac{\left({\mathrm{\Delta \varphi }}_M-{\mathrm{\Delta \varphi }}_R\right)}{2\pi }\times \frac{\lambda }{2}& \left(9\right)\end{array}$

In the embodiment of the present invention, the laser source is the single frequency He—Ne stabilized laser with the model of XL80 made by Renishaw Company from England. The output linearly polarized beam wavelength λ=632.990577 nm. The modulation frequency of the electro-optic phase modulator is 1 MHz. The bandwidth of the photodetector is 10 MHz. The PGC phase demodulation technology can generally achieve a phase demodulation accuracy of 0.1° at current art. Thereby, by substituting these typical values into formula (9), the displacement measurement accuracy can be up to 88 pm.

From the above description, in the present invention, two sets of sinusoidal phase modulation interferometers are constructed. By placing an electro-optic phase modulator in the common reference arm of the two interferometers, the DC interference signals of the two interferometers are modulated into high-frequency sinusoidal carrier AC signals, thereby improving the anti-interference ability of the interference signal. The phase change of the reference interferometer characterizes the optical path length fluctuation of the reference arm and part of the measurement arm of the interferometer caused by temperature drift and environmental disturbance during the measurement process. By calculating the difference between the phase change amounts of the two interference signals, the measured displacement can be obtained, and the error caused by temperature drift and environmental disturbance can be eliminated, thereby realizing sub-nanometer displacement measurement accuracy.

The above-mentioned specific embodiments are used to explain the present disclosure, not to limit the present disclosure. Any modification or change made to the present disclosure within the spirit of the present disclosure and the protection scope of the claims shall fall into the protection scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A differential sinusoidal phase modulation laser interferometric nanometer displacement measuring apparatus, comprising: a single-frequency laser, a polarizer, a beam splitter, a half wave plate, an electro-optic phase modulator, a first pyramid prism, a first polarization beam splitter, a second pyramid prism, a third pyramid prism, a second polarization beam splitter, a first photodetector and a second photodetector;wherein a beam emitted from the single-frequency laser is converted into a linearly polarized beam with a 45° polarization direction with respect to a beam propagation direction after passing through the polarizer and then the linearly polarized beam with the 45° polarization direction is incident on the beam splitter and divided into a transmitted beam and a reflected beam:the reflected beam from the beam splitter is modulated into a s-polarized beam after passing through the half wave plate, which is then modulated by the electro-optic phase modulator and then projected onto the first pyramid prism, the reflected beam from the first pyramid prism passes through the half wave plate again and then becomes a 45° linearly polarized beam and is incident on the beam splitter for transmission;the transmitted beam from the beam splitter is incident on the first polarization beam splitter for reflection and transmission, and respectively divided into two orthogonal linearly polarized beams in s-polarization and p-polarization, the s-polarized beam reflected by the first polarization beam splitter is projected onto the second pyramid prism, the p-polarized beam transmitted by the first polarization beam splitter is projected onto the third pyramid prism, the s-polarized beam reflected by the second pyramid prism and the p-polarized beam reflected by the third pyramid prism return to the first polarization beam splitter and are combined into an orthogonal linearly polarized beam and then incident to the beam splitter for reflection;the 45° linearly polarized beam passed through the half wave plate and the orthogonal linearly polarized beam returned from the first polarization beam splitter are merged at the beam splitter, wherein, interference is generated between a s-polarized component of the 45° linearly polarized beam and a s-polarized component of the orthogonal linearly polarized beam to form a s-polarized interference signal; and interference is generated between a p-polarized component of the 45° linearly polarized beam and a p-polarized beam of the orthogonal linearly polarized beam to form a p-polarized interference signal, the s-polarized interference signal serves as a reference interference signal and is received by the first photodetector after being reflected by the second polarization beam splitter, the p-polarized interference signal serves as a measurement interference signal and is received by the second photodetector after being transmitted by the second polarization beam splitter.

2. The differential sinusoidal phase modulation laser interferometric nanometer displacement measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a polarization transmission direction of the polarizer is 45° to the beam propagation direction.

3. The differential sinusoidal phase modulation laser interferometric nanometer displacement measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an optical axis of the half wave plate is 22.5° to the beam propagation direction.

4. The differential sinusoidal phase modulation laser interferometric nanometer displacement measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electro-optic phase modulator is placed between the half wave plate and the first pyramid prism, and modulates the s-polarized beam output from the half wave plate and transmitted to the first pyramid prism, an electric field of the electro-optic phase modulator is applied along with a polarization direction of the s-polarized beam.

5. A differential sinusoidal phase modulation laser interferometric nanometer displacement measuring method, comprising the following steps: 1) outputting a beam with a wavelength of X emitted from a single-frequency laser, wherein the beam is converted by a polarizer into a linearly polarized beam with a 45° polarization direction with respect to a beam propagation direction after passing through a polarizer, and the linearly polarized beam with the 45° polarization direction is respectively projected onto a reference sinusoidal phase modulation interferometer consisting of a beam splitter, a half wave plate, an electro-optic phase modulator, a first pyramid prism, a first polarization beam splitter and a second pyramid prism as well as a measurement sinusoidal phase modulation interferometer consisting of the beam splitter, the half wave plate, the electro-optic phase modulator, the first pyramid prism, the first polarization beam splitter and a third pyramid prism, thereby forming a reference interference signal and a measurement interference signal respectively, and then are received by two photodetectors after being split by a second polarization beam splitter;2) placing the electro-optic phase modulator between the half wave plate and the first pyramid prism of the sinusoidal phase modulation interferometer, modulating a s-polarized beam emitted from the half wave plate and incident into the first pyramid prism, and applying a high-frequency sinusoidal carrier voltage with an electric field direction is consistent with a polarization direction of the s-polarized beam to the electro-optic phase modulator, thereby modulating the interference signals of the reference sinusoidal phase modulation interferometer and the measurement sinusoidal phase modulation interferometer into high-frequency sinusoidal carrier AC interference signals;3) when the third pyramid prism is moved a displacement ΔL, a PGC phase demodulation method is adopted to obtain a phase change amount ΔφR of the reference interference signal and a phase change amount ΔφM of the measurement interference signal, which are respectively as follows: