Shearing interference microscope for step-height measurements.

A shearing interference microscope using a Savart prism as the shear plate is proposed for inspecting step-heights. Where the light beam propagates through the Savart prism and microscopic system to illuminate the sample, it then turns back to re-pass through the Savart prism and microscopic system to generate a shearing interference pattern on the camera. Two measurement modes, phase-shifting and phase-scanning, can be utilized to determine the depths of the step-heights on the sample. The first mode, which employs a narrowband source, is based on the five-step phase-shifting algorithm and has a measurement range of a quarter-wavelength. The second mode, which adopts a broadband source, is based on peak-intensity identification technology and has a measurement range up to a few micrometres. This paper is to introduce the configuration and measurement theory of this microscope, perform a setup used to implement it, and present the experimental results from the uses of the setup. The results not only verify the validity but also confirm the high measurement repeatability of the proposed microscope.

Orthogonal polarization Mirau interferometer using reflective-type waveplate.

This work proposes an orthogonal polarization Mirau interferometry using a reflective-type waveplate to generate different polarization orientations for broadband white light interferometry. The reflective-type half-waveplate is employed as the reference arm of the Mirau interferometer to convert polarization and it generates a reference light with an orientation orthogonal to the object light. An advantage of the proposed interferometer is its ability to control the ratio of light intensity between the object and reference arms to maximize the interferometric fringe contrast. Better, more accurate calibration of standard step height has been achieved by the developed interferometer, which also can measure solder bumps that traditional Mirau interferometers usually cannot measure.

Broadband light source shearing interferometer using Savart plate and angular scanning technique.

A shearing interferometer based on using broadband light source, Savart plate, and angular scanning technique is proposed for slope contour measurements in this Letter. Of which, the Savart plate divides the wavefront reflected from the detected surface into two laterally displaced ones, the interference pattern generated by the interference of the divided wavefronts is modulated by an envelope function, and the slope contour of the detected surface is determined by examining the shifting of the darkest fringe as the shear plate is angularly scanned. A setup for realizing the interferometer is constructed. The experimental results of using this setup agree the validity and feasibility of the proposed interferometer.

Polarization phase-shifting Newton interferometer for plane optical surface measurements.

This Letter introduces a polarization phase-shifting Newton interferometer that can be utilized for plane optical surface measurements, a setup constructed to realize the interferometer, and the experimental results from the use of the setup. The results confirm not only the validity but also the feasibility of the interferometer.

A calibrator based on the use of low-coherent light source straightness interferometer and compensation method.

A calibrator utilizing a low-coherent light source straightness interferometer and a compensation method is introduced for straightness measurements in this paper. Where the interference pattern, which is modulated by an envelope function, generated by the interferometer undergoes a shifting as the Wolaston prism of the interferometer experiences a lateral displacement, and the compensation method senses the displacement by driving the prism back to the position to restore the pattern. A setup, which is with a measurement sensitivity of 36.6°/µm, constructed for realizing the calibrator is demonstrated. The experimental results from the uses of the setup reveal that the setup is with a measurement resolution and stability of 0.019 and 0.08 µm, respectively, validate the calibrator, and confirm the calibrator's applicability of straightness measurements and advantage of extensible working distance.

Angular probe based on using Fabry-Perot etalon and scanning technique.

A novel angular probe using the Fabry-Perot etalon and angular scanning technique is proposed for absolute angular displacement determinations in this paper. The measurement theory is first derived, a setup constructed to implement the angular probe is then introduced and analyzed, and the experimental results from the uses of the setup are finally presented. The setup analyses reveal that the probe is with high measurement resolution and sensitivity. The experimental results not only confirm the validity, stability, accuracy, and repeatability, but also show an application of the angular probe.

Replacers of barcodes for small application areas by using grating dots to diffractively form bright points.

Although barcodes can be used to manage data conveniently, they cannot be applied to small areas. Therefore, pointcodes are used to overcome the issue in this article. A pointcode uses a pointcode pattern to encode data and uses a pointcode image to decode data. A pointcode pattern is composed of many grating dots with different specified grating pitches and grating orientations. Moreover, there are two grating-dot sizes generated. When a laser beam illuminates a pointcode pattern with correct illuminating conditions, a pointcode image corresponding to the hidden data is diffractively reconstructed. A pointcode image is composed of many bright points with different positions. There are two possible bright-point sizes generated. A bright point or two bright points at specified positions are used to denote a number. Small pointcode patterns are enough to diffractively form pointcode images.

Precise displacement measurement for a local surface.

An optical measurement method to get the in-plane and out-of-plane displacements of a local surface using a laser is proposed. The proposed method simultaneously derives the in-plane and out-of-plane displacements by measuring the shift of interference fringes formed by scattered beams. The average errors of the in-plane and out-of-plane displacement measurements are significantly smaller than 10 nm. Moreover, the proposed method uses only low-cost optical elements.

Low-coherent light-source angular interferometer using a square prism and the angular-scanning technique.

An interferometer based on using low-coherent light source, a square prism, and the angular-scanning technique is proposed for absolute angular-displacement determinations. An angular displacement of the square prism shifts the correlogram, which is modulated by an envelope function, of the interference signal of the beams passing through the prism. This angle can thus be discovered by detecting the shifting of the envelope peak. A setup constructed to validate the interferometer is used. The results of using this setup are then presented.

Diffractive barcode using grating-dot lines.

Bar arrangements used by conventional diffractive barcodes are usually similar to those used by diffusive barcodes. We, however, propose a modified diffractive barcode with bar arrangements different from those used by diffusive barcodes. A modified diffractive barcode pattern is composed of many parallel grating-dot lines. When the grating-dot lines are scanned by a laser beam in sequence, different bright bar arrangements corresponding to different codes appear in sequence.

Pattern composed of two-dimensional diffusion dots for showing dynamic images.

A new type of diffusion pattern is proposed. The proposed patterns are composed of 2D diffusion dots. The diffusion dots are created on a photoresist plate by recording the image of a local area of a piece of ground glass dot by dot. An imaging lens covered by a mask with a slit aperture is used to form the image. By changing the orientation of the slit aperture on the mask plane, the diffusion dots can have different microintensity distributions for the same incident light beam. Therefore the diffusion dots created by the same slit aperture orientation show the same brightness, and the diffusion dots created by different slit orientations show different brightness for the same illuminating and viewing conditions. Thus a proposed diffusion pattern can show dynamic images by changing its illuminating or viewing directions. By applying the double-exposure technique to the diffusion dots of a pattern, the pattern not only can show dynamic effects but also can possess several hidden features for identifying the pattern. Therefore the proposed patterns are dynamic and anticounterfeiting.

Using random features of dot-matrix holograms for anticounterfeiting.

The images on a dot-matrix hologram contain many two-dimensional (2D) dots with different grating orientations and different grating pitches. Because the zeroth-order light nondiffracted by different grating structures has the same progress direction, the nondiffracted light can be diffracted to a 2D spot spectrum by the 2D dot structure. The 2D spot spectrum depends on grating depths and dot sizes. Although ordinary noises are troublesome for 2D spots, noises caused by special dot arrangement defects or special grating moiré fringes are useful in checking holograms. Since the features of grating depths, dot sizes, dot arrangement defects, and grating moiré fringes can be randomly changed on a case by case basis, 2D spot spectra in different cases are different. The aforementioned random features are used to identify dot-matrix holograms.