The present invention relates to an interferometric measuring method and device for measuring the shape of or the distance to surfaces, wherein light is generated, modulated with respect to its frequency, conducted to both a measured surface and a reference surface and then brought to interference, conducted to a photodetector, and, to measure the particular distance, a phase of the photodetector signal is evaluated.
An interferometric measuring method, as well as a measuring device are described in the German Published Patent Application No. 198 08 273. In this conventional interferometric measuring method, based on the principle of heterodyne technology, an acousto-optical modulator is used to shift the light frequency having a heterodyne frequency to facilitate the evaluation, and the distance to or the shape of the surface is determined by evaluating the phase difference. In this context, the phase differences in light components of the light, which is obtained from a short-coherent light source, split by a beam splitter into different wavelength ranges, and detected by a photodetector array, are simultaneously evaluated on the basis of the particular phase difference. Upon consideration of the phase difference, in the context of light of only one wavelength, the range of unambiguity may be limited to a change in distance between two measuring points of less than one half of the corresponding wavelength. On the other hand, a synthetic wavelength Λ=λ1·λ2/(λ2−λ1) may be formed from at least two different wavelengths. From this follows a correspondingly larger unambiguity range, in which a correspondingly rougher measurement may be taken as a single-valued measurement. However, the increased unambiguity range may be associated with additional outlay.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,293,215 describes an interferometric measuring device which is likewise based on the concept of multi-wavelength heterodyne interferometry, wherein a frequency-modulated light-generating device having a plurality of frequency-modulated lasers as light sources for the various wavelengths is used.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,883,715 discusses an interferometer having a frequency-modulated light source for a vibrometer.
The present invention provides an interferometric measuring method and an interferometric measuring device, respectively, which, in the context of a simplified configuration, permit a relatively large measuring range.
According to one exemplary method of the present invention, the phase of a photodetector signal may be considered in at least two different instants with the wavelengths that correspond on the basis of the frequency modulation, and the results may be fed to the evaluation.
By considering the light components having different wavelengths at different instants, the surface measurement may be performed without an additional beam-splitter and the associated expensive photodetector array, and a downstream evaluation device may be adapted thereto. Because of the resulting simple configuration of the optical measuring system, the evaluation electronics may merely be configured to observe the phase differences at the different instants, with the corresponding different wavelengths. Appropriate software and programming may be used in this context, for example, to implement the evaluation in the evaluation electronics or evaluation unit.
The measuring device may be configured accordingly for the measurement, inclusive of the evaluation, so that a light source that is able to be modulated in its light frequency and, to that end, is connected to a modulator, whose light is split by a beam splitter into a reference wave and a measuring wave (MW) to be conducted to a surface of a measuring object, which are brought to interference, that to receive the light formed by the interfering light waves and having an intensity modulation, and to generate a corresponding electrical signal, a photodetector is provided, to which a downstream evaluation electronics is connected, to evaluate the electrical signals, while taking phase measurements, to form a synthetic wavelength from different wavelengths derived from the frequency modulation at spaced apart instants, and determine the distance to or the shape of the surface, in consideration of only the individual, different wavelengths and/or of the synthetic wavelength.
With regard to implementing the exemplary method and achieving a simple and rugged configuration, one exemplary embodiment provides for the light having the light components of the different wavelengths to be obtained via a conventional frequency modulation of a light source, and for the electrical signal obtained by the photodetector to be evaluated when the light frequencies belonging to the various wavelengths occur.
Given a simply configured evaluation unit, the exemplary method may be simply performed, in that, at an instant corresponding to one wavelength, a phase difference is determined, and a precision measurement is taken on the surface in accordance with the relation ΔL=Δp1·λ1/(4π); that at another instant corresponding to a different wavelength, a further phase difference is determined; and that on the basis of synthetic wavelength Λ=λ1·λ2/(λ2−λ1), a rough measurement is taken on the surface in accordance with the relation ΔL=(Δp1 −Δp2)·Λ/(4π).
In accordance with another exemplary embodiment, to select the instants, the evaluation electronics may be in signal communication with the modulator.
An interferometric measuring device shown in
Light frequency fL of light source LQ, e.g., of a laser diode, is shifted, e.g., linearly, in its frequency by modulator M, as schematically shown in
A characteristic curve of the electrical signal generated by photodetector Ph, for a linear frequency modulation, is shown exemplarily in
ΔL=Δp1·λ1/(4·π),
λ1 indicating the light wavelength at a corresponding light frequency fL1 at an instant t1, of the measurement, as illustrated in
The measurement is single-valued when the difference in the distance between two measuring points is smaller than λ1/2. The range of unambiguity of the interferometer is expanded by a second measurement using the electrical signal in that, as likewise shown in
ΔΦ2=ΔL·4·π/λ2
from the two different wavelengths λ1 and λ2. The wavelengths λ1, λ2 may, for example, be clearly distinguished within one measuring cycle, when the two corresponding instants t1 and t2 are near the beginning and, respectively, the end of the frequency shift. A synthetic wavelength Λ=λ1·λ2/(λ2−λ1) may then be obtained in a conventional manner. Taking synthetic wavelength Λ as a basis, the change in distance may be determined, at a lower resolution, from the phase measurements at instants (actually short time intervals) t1 and t2. The measurement is single-valued when the difference in the distance between two measuring points is smaller than half of synthetic wavelength Λ. For example, in comparison to the product of the two wavelengths, wavelength difference λ2−λ1 may be selected so that synthetic wavelength Λ amounts to 100 μm.
By combining the accurate measurement (precise measurement) and the low-resolution measurement (rough measurement), a high-resolution measurement may be provided within a large range of unambiguity. Phase differences ΔΦ1 and ΔΦ2 may be determined in a conventional manner using evaluation electronics A, the determination being made, however, in time succession at instants t1, and t2, and the allocated, different wavelengths λ1 and λ2 being taken as a basis for the rough measurement. The measurements are triggered with the aid of the modulator signal.
Due to the feature that the measurements are taken in time succession for different wavelengths λ1 and λ2 obtained by the frequency modulation of light frequency fL, a simply-configured optical measuring system may be achieved without the need for a spectral splitting unit. A heterodyne-interferometric measuring device configuration that differs from that of
In place of a heterodyne interferometer, a different measuring system including evaluation of the phase difference may be selected to determine the distance to the surface, whereas the heterodyne technique, however, may render a simpler evaluation.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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102 04 133 | Mar 2002 | DE | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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4594003 | Sommargren | Jun 1986 | A |
4886363 | Jungquist | Dec 1989 | A |
5293215 | Pfendler et al. | Mar 1994 | A |
5777742 | Marron | Jul 1998 | A |
5883715 | Steinlechner et al. | Mar 1999 | A |
Number | Date | Country |
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198 08 273 | Sep 1999 | DE |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20040125379 A1 | Jul 2004 | US |