Advantages of chromatic-confocal spectral interferometry in comparison to chromatic confocal microscopy

Abstract

Chromatic confocal microscopy (CCM) and spectral interferometry (SI) are established and robust sensor principles. CCM is a focus-based measurement principle, whose lateral and axial resolutions depend on the sensor's numerical aperture (NA), while the measurement range is given by the spectral bandwidth and the chromatic dispersion in the axial direction. Although CCM is a robust principle, its accuracy can be reduced by self-imaging effects or asymmetric illumination of the sensor pupil. Interferometric principles based on the evaluation of the optical path difference, e.g., SI, have proven to be robust against self-imaging. The disadvantage of SI is its measurement range, which is limited by the depth of focus. Hence, the usable NA and the lateral resolution are restricted. Chromatic-confocal spectral interferometry (CCSI) is a combination of SI and CCM, which overcomes these restrictions. The increase of robustness of CCSI compared to CCM due to the interferometric gain has been demonstrated before. In this contribution the advantages of CCSI in comparison to CCM concerning self-imaging artifacts will be demonstrated. Therefore, a new phase-evaluation algorithm with higher resolution concerning classical SI-based evaluation algorithms is presented. For the comparison of different sensor systems, a chirp comparison standard is used.