Grating Interferometer Using ± 1st Order Beams for Step-Profile Altitude Difference Measurement

We propose a grating interferometer for step-profile altitude difference measurement. There are two main characteristics in this interferometer. The first is that the intensity distribution of the interference pattern is independent of the wavelength of the laser-diode used. No change of the intensity distribution occurs when the wavelength fluctuates. The second is that the measuring range is much larger than the wavelength of the light source because the spatial period of the grating is much larger than the wavelength. Sinusoidal phase modulating interferometry is easily applied to detect the phase variation of the interference pattern by vibrating the grating sinusoidally. The thickness of a 3.5-inch disk is measured with an accuracy of less than 0.5 μm.