Self-calibration system and method for determining the adequacy of an interferometer angle and surface curvatures in an inspection system for determining disparity between two surfaces

摘要

A self-calibration system and method (125) determines the adequacy of an interferometer angle &phgr; and surface curvatures in an inspection system (90). The inspection system (90) can contactlessly measure the disparity between two surfaces, such as the undercut or protrusion of an optical fiber (26) relative to a surrounding support material (36) at the endface (79) of an optical fiber termination (37). The inspection system (90) measures an offset of the fringe (113') in the image over the target (25') in the image (111a, 111b, 111c) in order to determine the disparity. In structure, the inspection system (90) has a measurement apparatus (91) with an interferometer (98) situated at the angle &phgr; relative to the target (82) controlled by a machine vision system (92) for determining the degree of disparity. Further, the machine vision system (92) preferably employs the self-calibration system and method (125).