Interferometer and method for measuring the refractive index and optical path length effects of air
First Claim
1. Interferometric apparatus for measuring the effects of the refractive index of a gas in a measurement path, said interferometric apparatus comprising:
- interferometer means comprising first and second measurement legs, said first and second measurement legs having optical paths structured and arranged such that at least one of them has a variable physical length and at least one of them is at least in part occupied by the gas, the optical path length difference between said first and second measurement legs varying in accordance with the difference between the respective physical lengths of their optical paths and the properties of said gas;
means for generating at least two light beams having different wavelengths;
means for introducing first and second predetermined portions of each of said light beams into said first and second measurement legs, respectively, of said interferometer means so that each of at least one of said first and second predetermined portions of said light beams travels through said first and second measurement legs along predetermined optical paths with the same number of passes, said predetermined first and second portions of said light beams emerging from said interferometer means as exit beams containing information about the respective optical path lengths through said first and second measurement legs at said wavelengths;
means for combining said exit beams to produce mixed optical signals containing information corresponding to the phase differences between each of said exit beams from corresponding ones of said predetermined optical paths of said first and second measurement legs at said wavelengths;
means for detecting said mixed optical signals and generating electrical interference signals containing information corresponding to the effects of the index of refraction of the gas at said different beam wavelengths and the difference in physical path lengths of said measurement legs and their relative rate of change; and
electronic means for analyzing said electrical interference signals to determine the effects of said gas in said measurement leg(s) while compensating for the relative rates at which the physical path lengths of said first and second measurement legs are changing.
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Abstract
Apparatus and methods particularly suitable for use in electro-optical metrology and other applications to measure and monitor the refractive index of a gas in a measurement path and/or the change in optical path length of the measurement path due to the gas while the refractive index of the gas may be fluctuating due to turbulence or the like and/or the physical length of the measuring path may be changing. More specifically, the invention employs electronic frequency processing to provide measurements of dispersion of the refractive index, the dispersion being substantially proportional to the density of the gas, and/or measurements of dispersion of the optical path length, the dispersion of the optical path length being related to the dispersion of the refractive index and the physical length of the measurement path. The refractive index of the gas and/or the optical path length effects of the gas are subsequently computed from the measured dispersion of the refractive index and/or the measured dispersion of the optical path length, respectively. The information generated by the inventive apparatus is particularly suitable for use in interferometric distance measuring instruments (DMI) to compensate for errors related to refractive index of gas in a measurement path brought about by environmental effects and turbulence induced by rapid stage slew rates. In preferred embodiments, differential plane mirror interferometer architectures are utilized, the operating wavelengths are approximately harmonically related and may be monitored and/or controlled to meet precision requirements, heterodyne and superheterodyne processing are beneficially used, and phase redundancy is resolved.
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Citations
72 Claims
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1. Interferometric apparatus for measuring the effects of the refractive index of a gas in a measurement path, said interferometric apparatus comprising:
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interferometer means comprising first and second measurement legs, said first and second measurement legs having optical paths structured and arranged such that at least one of them has a variable physical length and at least one of them is at least in part occupied by the gas, the optical path length difference between said first and second measurement legs varying in accordance with the difference between the respective physical lengths of their optical paths and the properties of said gas;
means for generating at least two light beams having different wavelengths;
means for introducing first and second predetermined portions of each of said light beams into said first and second measurement legs, respectively, of said interferometer means so that each of at least one of said first and second predetermined portions of said light beams travels through said first and second measurement legs along predetermined optical paths with the same number of passes, said predetermined first and second portions of said light beams emerging from said interferometer means as exit beams containing information about the respective optical path lengths through said first and second measurement legs at said wavelengths;
means for combining said exit beams to produce mixed optical signals containing information corresponding to the phase differences between each of said exit beams from corresponding ones of said predetermined optical paths of said first and second measurement legs at said wavelengths;
means for detecting said mixed optical signals and generating electrical interference signals containing information corresponding to the effects of the index of refraction of the gas at said different beam wavelengths and the difference in physical path lengths of said measurement legs and their relative rate of change; and
electronic means for analyzing said electrical interference signals to determine the effects of said gas in said measurement leg(s) while compensating for the relative rates at which the physical path lengths of said first and second measurement legs are changing. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72)
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39. Interferometric method for measuring the effects of the refractive index of a gas in a measurement path, said interferometric apparatus comprising:
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providing an interferometer means comprising a first and second measurement legs, said first and second measurement legs having optical paths structured and arranged such that at least one of them has a variable physical length and at least one of them is at least in part occupied by gas, the optical path length difference between said first and second measurement legs varying in accordance with the difference in the respective physical lengths of their optical paths and the properties of said gas;
generating at least two light beams having different wavelengths;
introducing first and second predetermined portions of each of said light beams into said first and second measurement legs, respectively, of said interferometer means so that each of at least one of said first and second predetermined portions of said light beams travels through said first and second measurement legs along predetermined optical paths with the same number of passes, said predetermined first and second portions of said light beams emerging from said interferometer means as exit beams containing information about the respective optical path lengths through said first and second measurement legs at said wavelengths;
combining said exit beams to produce mixed optical signals containing information corresponding to the phase differences between each of said exit beams from corresponding ones of said predetermined optical paths of said first and second measurement legs at said wavelengths;
detecting said mixed optical signals and generating electrical interference signals containing information corresponding to the effects of the index of refraction of the gas at said different beam wavelengths and the relative physical path lengths between said first and second measurement legs and their relative rates of change; and
electronically analyzing said interference electrical signals to determine the effects of said gas in said measurement leg(s) while compensating for the relative rates at which the physical path lengths of said first and second measurement legs are changing.
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Specification