Enhanced roll-angle measurement interferometer

Abstract

A roll-angle measurement interferometer with good stability and high sensitivity is presented. In the system, two sets of spatial parallel beams with different frequencies are formed with the help of a Koster prism, a corner cube, a quarter-wave plate, a wedge prism, and a wedge mirror. The wedge prism is used for the roll-angle sensing component, the roll of which will cause the changes of the optical path of the two beams with different frequencies. This interferometer complies with the principle of common path which minimizes the dead path; the cross talk of straightness, pitch, and yaw errors are avoided in this specific structure which enhances the stability and precision of the measurement. The experimental result fits well with the theoretical analysis and a measurement resolution of 2 μrad is achieved with an electronic interpolation of 2π/512.