Use of the Airy beam to extend the micro-hole measurement range of an OCT system

Abstract

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has the advantage of high precision in measuring micrometre-scale precision structures, but its measurement range is limited by the correlation with Rayleigh length of Gaussian beam. Therefore, this study used the Airy beam to extend the focal depth of the OCT system. The system’s coupled power was increased by 7.34 times when the sample position was at an optical defocus of 3 mm. Measurements of the resolution plate and silicon wafer sample showed that Airy beam OCT had a lateral resolution of 7.4 μm and the focal depth was >6 mm. While the focal depth of the Gaussian beam OCT with the equivalent lateral resolution was less than 1 mm. This improved OCT system demonstrates significant potential for sample measurements at large aspect ratios in the industrial surface detection field.