Abstract

In Michelson interferometer setups the standard way to generate different optical path lengths between a measurement arm and a reference arm relies on expensive high precision linear stages such as piezo actuators. We present an alternative approach based on the refraction of light at optical interfaces using a cheap stepper motor with high gearing ratio to control the rotation of a glass plate. The beam path is examined and a relation between angle of rotation and change in optical path length is devised. As verification, an experimental setup is presented, and reconstruction results from a measurement standard are shown. The reconstructed step height from this setup lies within 1.25% of the expected value.

© 2017 Optical Society of America

Thickness measurement of transparent glass plates using a lateral shearing cyclic path optical configuration setup and polarization phase shifting interferometry

Y. Pavan Kumar and Sanjib Chatterjee
Appl. Opt. 49(33) 6552-6557 (2010)

Simultaneous determination of refractive index and thickness of moderately thick plane-parallel transparent glass plates using cyclic path optical configuration setup and a lateral shearing interferometer

Y. Pavan Kumar and Sanjib Chatterjee
Appl. Opt. 51(16) 3533-3537 (2012)

Path-length distribution and path-length-resolved Doppler measurements of multiply scattered photons by use of low-coherence interferometry

Anna L. Petoukhova, Wiendelt Steenbergen, and Frits F. M. de Mul
Opt. Lett. 26(19) 1492-1494 (2001)

Quantification of optical Doppler broadening and optical path lengths of multiply scattered light by phase modulated low coherence interferometry

B. Varghese, V. Rajan, T. G. van Leeuwen, and W. Steenbergen
Opt. Express 15(15) 9157-9165 (2007)

Air refractive index measurement using low-coherence interferometry

Tomáš Pikálek and Zdeněk Buchta
Appl. Opt. 54(16) 5024-5030 (2015)