Passive zero shear interferometers
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An interferometry system, comprising:
- a beam conditioning assembly positioned to direct an input light beam to reflect from a measurement object and derive a conditioned beam from the input beam after it reflects from the measurement object; and
an interferometer positioned to receive the conditioned beam, wherein during operation the interferometer splits the conditioned beam into a measurement beam and at least one other beam, directs the measurement beam to reflect from the measurement object, and overlaps the measurement beam after it reflects from the measurement object with the other beam to form an output beam.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Beam shear can be reduced in an interferometric system by conditioning an input beam prior to directing the input beam to an interferometer. Accordingly, apparatus and methods for conditioning an interferometer input beam are disclosed.
109 Citations
80 Claims
-
1. An interferometry system, comprising:
-
a beam conditioning assembly positioned to direct an input light beam to reflect from a measurement object and derive a conditioned beam from the input beam after it reflects from the measurement object; and
an interferometer positioned to receive the conditioned beam, wherein during operation the interferometer splits the conditioned beam into a measurement beam and at least one other beam, directs the measurement beam to reflect from the measurement object, and overlaps the measurement beam after it reflects from the measurement object with the other beam to form an output beam. - 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, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
-
-
51. An interferometry method, comprising:
-
deriving a conditioned beam from an input beam by directing the input beam to contact a measurement object at least once;
splitting the conditioned beam into a measurement beam and at least one other beam;
directing the measurement beam to reflect from the measurement object at least once; and
overlapping the reflected measurement beam and the at least one other beam to form an output beam. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79)
-
-
80. An interferometry system, comprising:
-
a beam conditioning assembly positioned to direct an input light beam to reflect from a measurement object and derive a conditioned beam from the input beam after it reflects from the measurement object; and
an interferometer positioned to receive the conditioned beam and split the conditioned beam into a measurement beam and at least one other beam, the interferometer directs the measurement beam to reflect from the measurement object, and overlaps the measurement beam after it reflects from the measurement object with the other beam to form an output beam, wherein for a range of orientations of the measurement object the beam conditioning assembly causes the measurement beam to be orthogonal to the measurement object.
-
Specification