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Low-coherence inferometric device for light-optical scanning of an object

  • US 7,170,610 B2
  • Filed: 02/01/2003
  • Issued: 01/30/2007
  • Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2002
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. Low-coherence interferometric apparatus for light-optical scanning of an object (18), by detecting the position of light-remitting sites (20) which are located along a scan path (27) running in a scan direction (28),with a low-coherence interferometer (6) comprising a low-coherent light source (7), a reference reflector (21) and a detector (25), whereinlight emitted from the light source (7) is split by a beam divider (10) into two optical paths (11, 12), and a first fraction of the light is irradiated as measurement light (16) onto the object and reflected at a light-remitting site (20) located at a variable scan position on the scan path (27), and a second fraction of the light is irradiated as reference light (22) onto the reference reflector (21) where it is reflected,the adjustable scan position is varied along the scan path (27) to perform a scan, andthe measurement light (16) and the reference light (22) are combined at a beam junction (10) in such a manner that the resulting detection light (24), upon striking the detector, generates an interference signal which contains information about the reflection intensity of the measurement light relative to the respective scan position,characterized in that a variable wavelength selection device (30) is positioned in the light path of the detection light between the beam junction (10) and the detector (25), by which a wavelength-dependent separation of the detection light (24) is performed in such a manner that the detector (25) selectively receives preferably light with wavelengths which correspond to a predetermined sequence of wavenumbers k, and different sequences of wavenumbers k can be set for varying the scan position along the scan path (27).

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