Dual-channel interferometer for vibration-resistant optical measurement

Abstract

A dual-channel interferometer (DCI) is proposed for vibration-resistant optical measurement. The DCI employs a dual-channel interference optical path design, wherein an assistant channel is used to generate dense fringe patterns by introducing a spatial carrier frequency, and the coefficients of the vibration tilt phase plane are then extracted. The sparse fringe patterns of the main channel are combined with the coefficients of the tilt phase plane to calculate the measured phase distribution. This study reports the optical path and principles of the interference system. Simulations are performed using the proposed DCI phase extraction algorithm. To verify the DCI performance, phase measurements are carried out in a vibrating environment, and the results obtained using the proposed method are compared with those obtained using spatial phase-shifting interferometry (SPSI). The experimental results demonstrate that the DCI can effectively overcome the effect of vibration. Unlike spatial carrier frequency interferometry, although the spatial carrier frequency is also introduced in the assistant channel in the proposed DCI method, the dual-channel information extraction algorithm helps eliminate the calibration process of the retrace error before measurement, making this a calibration-free measurement. Moreover, the DCI utilizes environmental vibration to generate a ‘phase shift’, thus not only eliminating the need for a vibration isolation platform but also the need for a precise phase shifting device, with advantages such as structural simplicity, ease of operation, and low cost.