A polarization method for characterizing rectangular microgrooves from the phase response of a differential heterodyne microscope

The phase and modulus responses from rectangular microgrooves are modeled for two basic polarizations of probe radiation based on a response formation algorithm in a scanning differential heterodyne microscope and taking into account the rigorous theory of diffraction. The dependences of the phase contrast on the depth and the width of the microobject are calculated based on the responses obtained. The possibilities for simultaneous characterizing microgrooves with respect to their depth and width are analyzed. The parameters in ranges of phase dislocations and weak signals are proposed to be determined from the dependences of the phase and amplitude contrasts on the groove depth calculated for responses detected out of the center of the Fourier plane of the microscope. Original Russian Text ? D.V. Baranov, E.M. Zolotov, 2008, published in Optika i Spektroskopiya, 2008, Vol. 105, No. 3, pp. 496–501.