High precision optical surface topometry

Abstract

For contactless measurement of the surface topography optical techniques are promissing. A lot of progress was made by the development of laser supported methods. It is due to the development of new different lasers, the introduction of solid state detectors and powerful computers for the information processing. Time of flight, phase measurements, active and passive triangulation and projected fringes are very robust techniques for industrial applications. A lot of progress was made in the application of interferometry to surface and vibration measurements. One or more wavelength together with diode lasers are used. Although interferometry requires polished surfaces, however, by using synthetic wavlengths, it can also be applied for optically rougher surfaces. In addition the unambiguity range will be extended when longer synthetic wavelengths are used. Furthermore scanning and whole field confocal microscopy can be used for macro- and microstructure analysis. New techniques will be described to extend the field of view. Some limits especially with respect to resolution and industrial application will be discussed for the methods presented together with some experimental results and future developments.