High-accuracy sinusoidal phase-modulating self-mixing interferometer using an electro-optic modulator: development and evaluation

摘要

A sinusoidal phase-modulating He-Ne laser subject to weak optical feedback has been used to develop an interferometer that is capable of performing real-time displacement measurement with nanometer accuracy. The principle and the signal processing method are introduced. A commercial dual-frequency interferometer is included in the displacement measurement in both small and large ranges to evaluate the performance of the developed interferometer. Experimental results show that the average errors and standard deviations of the interferometer are in good agreement with data obtained from the commercial interferometer. The resolution and the multiple feedback effect of the interferometer are discussed in detail. These results show that the development of the interferometer is reasonable and feasible.