Measurement technique for depth profiling in time-domain low-coherence interferometer

Abstract

A measurement technique for depth profiling in a time-domain low-coherence interferometer has been proposed. The spatial variation of the optical path caused by a diffraction grating in the Littrow configuration produces a white-light interferogram. A one-dimensional charge-coupled device (1D-CCD) detector is used to measure the undersampled white-light interferogram. The position of the reflective boundary is calculated from the rate of phase change with spatial frequency, which is based on the sub-Nyquist sampling of the white-light interferogram in the frequency domain.