Differential Plane Mirror Interferometer

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to apparatus for the measurement of optical path length changes between two plane mirror surfaces. More particularly, the invention relates to optical apparatus which is useful for high accuracy displacement metrology using interferometry.

2. The Prior Art

An interferometer is a basic instrument for most high accuracy displacement measurements in dilatometry, material stability studies, the machine tool industry, and in the semiconductor fabrication industry. One type of interferometer representative of the current state-of-the-art is the differential plane mirror interferometer which measures the optical path length changes between two external mirrors and which is described in R. R. Baldwin and G. J. Siddall, "A double pass attachment for the linear and plane interferometer," Proc. SPIE, Vol. 480, pp. 78-83 (May 1984). A conventional differential plane mirror interferometer consists of a fixed plane mirror and a movable plane mirror, which form the interferometer cavity, and auxiliary optical components (retroreflectors, wave plates, mirrors, beamsplitters). This type of interferometer has an inherent optical resolution of one quarter of the wavelength of the light used and has particularly high stability which is necessary for the ever increasing demand for improved accuracy. Thus, it is particularly insensitive to any tilt of the plane mirrors and motion of the auxiliary optical components.

The conventional differential plane mirror interferometer is, however, overly complicated, requiring many auxiliary optical components thereby subjecting the measurement beams to many reflections. These drawbacks ultimately limit the accuracy that can be achieved due to a lower signal-to-noise ratio in the measurement signal as a result of reduced optical beam power and polarization leakage.

The present invention retains the basic plane mirror interferometer cavity of the conventional differential plane mirror; however, the use of a shear plate in the present invention not only reduces the number of optical elements but also reduces the number of reflections by nearly 50%. The improvements of the present invention thusly further increase the accuracy that can be attained with this type of interferometer.

In accordance with the instant invention, I provide a differential plane mirror interferometer system capable of measuring accurately either changes in length or changes in optical length comprising: (1) a source of an input beam with two linear orthogonally polarized components which may or may not be of the same optical frequency, (2) means, most preferably a tilted parallel plate or shear plate with regions of reflection, antireflection and polarizing coatings, for converting said input beam into two separated, parallel, orthogonally polarized beams; (3) means, most preferably a halfwave retardation plate, located in one of said separated beams, for converting said two separated, parallel, orthogonally polarized beams into two separated, parallel beams with the same polarization; (4) means, most preferably a polarizing beamsplitter, quarter-wave retardation plate, and retroreflector, for causing each of said separated, parallel beams with the same polarization to be reflected twice by one of two plane mirrors, respectively, to produce two parallel output beams with the same polarization; (5) most preferably a half-wave retardation plate, located in one of said separated, parallel output beams for converting said two separated, parallel output bems of the same polarization into two separated, parallel output beams with orthogonal polarization; (6) means, most preferably the aforementioned tilted plate with regions of reflection, antireflection and polarizing coatings, for converting said two separated, parallel, orthogonally polarized output beams into a single output beam in which the phase difference between the two polarization components of said single output beam is directly proportional to the optical path length between said two plane mirrors; (7) means, most preferably a polarizer, for mixing said orthogonal components of said single output beam; (8) means, most preferably a photoelectric detector, to produce an electrical measurement signal, and (9) means to extract said phase difference from said electrical measurement signal, said extracted phase difference being proportional to the optical path length changes between the two plane mirrors.

In the drawings,

FIG. 1 depicts in schematic form one embodiment of the instant invention where all optical beams are in a single plane.

FIG. 2 depicts in schematic form a second embodiment of the instant invention where the optical beams are not in a single plane.

FIG. 1 depicts in schematic form one embodiment of the instant invention where all optical beams are in a single plane. While the apparatus has application for a wide range of radiation sources, the following description is taken by way of example with respect to an optical measuring system. Light source (10), which most preferably uses a laser, emits input beam (12) which is comprised of two linear orthogonally polarized components as indicated by the dot and arrow, which may or may not be of the same optical frequency. If the frequencies are the same, see for example, Downs et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,271 issued Nov. 23, 1982. If the frequencies are different, see for example, Bagley et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,458,259 issued July 26, 1969 and commonly owned, copending U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. 710,859, entitled "Apparatus to Transform a Single Frequency, Linearly Polarized Laser Beam Into a Beam with Two, Orthogonally Polarized Frequencies" filed Mar. 12, 1985; 710,928, entitled "Heterodyne Interferometer System", filed Mar. 12, 1985; and 710,927, entitled "Apparatus to Transform a Single Frequency, Linearly Polarized Laser Beam into a High Efficiency Beam with Two, Orthogonally Polarized Frequencies", filed Mar. 12, 1985 all of which are specifically incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, in which instant source (10) would provide an electrical reference signal (11), shown by dotted lines in FIG. 1, which would correspond to the frequency difference between the two stabilized frequencies. No such reference signal (11) is provided when the two linear orthogonally polarized components comprising input beam (12) are of the same optical frequency.

Beam (12) is incident on shear plate (16) which is a tilted parallel plate glass substrate with optically flat surfaces (17) and (18) which are mutually parallel. The function of tilted parallel plate (16) is to spatially separate the two polarization components using conventional polarization techniques. Beam (12) passes through surface (17) to become beam (13) which has the same polarization as beam (12). Surface (17) has an antireflection coating (21A) over the region where beam (12) passes through it. Polarizing coating (23A) on surface (18) splits beam (13) so that one polarized component is transmitted as beam (30) whereas the other orthogonally polarized component is reflected as beam (14). Beam (14) is totally reflected from reflective coating (25A) on surface (17) to become beam (15). Beam (15) passes through surface (18) to become beam (31) which has the same polarization as beam (15). Surface (18) has an anitreflection coating (27A) over the region where beam (15) passes through it.

Beam (31) passes through half-wave retardation plate (29A) which rotates the linear polarization of beam (31) by 90.degree. so that the resultant beam (33) has the same polarization as beam (30). Beams (30 and (33) enter polarizing beamsplitter (40) with polarizing coating (42) and are transmitted as beams (34) and (35) respectively. Beams (34) and (35) pass through quarter-wave retardation plate (44) and are converted into circularly polarized beams (50) and (51) respectively. Beam (51) is reflected from fixed reference mirror (71) to become beam (51A) while beam (50) is reflected from movable mirror (70) affixed to the stage whose relative position is being measured to become beam (50A). Beams (50A) and (51A) pass back through quarter-wave retardation plate (44) and are converted back into linearly polarized beams which are orthogonally polarized to the original incident beams (34) and (35). Beams (50A) and (51A) are reflected by polarizing coating (42) to become beams (52) and (53). Beams (52) and (53) are reflected by retroreflector (45) to become beams (54) and (55). Beams (54) and (55) are reflected by polarizing coating (42) to become beams (56) and (57). Beams (56) and (57) pass through quarter-wave retardation plate (44) and are converted into circularly polarized beams (58) and (59).

Beam (59) is reflected from fixed reference mirror (71) to become beam (59A) while beam (58) is reflected from movable mirror (70) to become beam (58A). Beams (58A) and (59A) pass back through quarter-wave retardation plate (44) and are converted back into linearly polarized beams which are polarized the same as the original incident beams (34) and (35). Beams (58A) and (59A) are transmitted by polarized coating (42) and leave polarizing beamsplitter (40) as beams (60) and (63). Beams (60) and (63) are mutually parallel by virtue of the inherent optical properties of retroreflector (45), independent of any tilt that may be present between mirrors (70) and (71). Beam (60) passes through half-wave retardation plate (29B) which rotates the linear polarization of beam (60) by 90.degree. so that resultant beam (62) has a linear polarization which is orthogonal to beam (63). Beam (62) passes through surface (18) to become beam (64) which has the same polarization as beam (62). Surface (18) has an antireflection coating (27B) over the region where beam (62) passes through it. Beam (64) is totally reflected from reflective coating (25B) to become beam (65). Surface (18) has reflective coating (25B) over the region where beam (64) intersects it. Beam (65) and (63) are recombined to form beam (66) by polarizing coating (23B). Surface (17) has polarizing coating (23B) over the region where beams (65) and (63) intersect. Beam (66) passes through surface (17) to become beam (80). Surface (17) has an antireflection coating (21B) over the region where beam (66) passes through it.

Beam (80), like input beam (12), has two orthogonally polarized components. Each component has traversed exactly the same optical path length (through air and glass) except for the optical path, "nl", between mirrors (70) and (71) where "n" is the index of refraction of the medium between mirrors (70) and (71) and "l" is the distance between mirrors (70) and (71). The optical path length corresponding to this distance, "l", results in a phase difference between the two polarization components of beam (80). Motion of mirror (70) causes this phase difference to vary. This phase variation is directly proportional to the distance, "L", moved by mirror (70) for a constant "n" and is measured by passing beam (80) through polarizer (81), oriented at 45.degree. to each polarization component, which mixes the two orthogonally polarized components in beam (80) to give beam (82). Similarly, If "l" is fixed and "n" varies, then the phase variation is directly proportional to the change in "n". The interference between the two polarization components is detected by photodetector (83) producing electrical signal (85). Electronic module (90) extracts the phase variation from electrical signal (85). When the two polarization components of beam (12) are of the same optical frequency, module (90) does not require reference signal (11) since there is no corresponding frequency difference, and conventionally extracts the phase variation from signal (85) such as in the manner described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,271. However, when the two polarization components of beam (12) are of different frequencies, an additionala sinusoidal electrical reference signal (11) equal in frequency to the difference between the two optical frequencies is required by electronic module (90), which reference signal (11), as previously mentioned, would be provided from source (10) in which instance photodetector (83) would detect the interference between the two frequency components as a sinusoidal intensity variation with a frequency approximately equal to the difference frequency between the two components of beam (12), such as explained in my copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 810,999 of which this application is a continuation-in-part, and module (90) would preferably comprise a phase meter/accumulator such as described in the aforementioned copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 710,928. In either event, electronic module (90) provides output (92) which is directly proportional to the change in optical path length between mirrors (70) and (71). This optical configuration is extremely insensitive to measurement error because changes in the other optical components, such as those induced mechanically or thermally, affect both polarization components equally and therefore have no influence on the measured phase variation (92). In addition, environmental effects, such as variations in the refractive index of air, can be minimized by placing mirror (71) close to mirror (70) to reduce the optical path length difference between the two polarization components. It should be noted that half-wave retardation plates (29A) and (29B) could be a single element with a hole in it to allow beam (63) to pass through it unaffected.

FIG. 2 depicts in schematic form a second embodiment of the instant invention where the optical beams are not in a single plane. This configuration permits a more compact optical system. The description of this figure is identical to FIG. 1 and is numbered correspondingly. The only differences are that now coatings (21A) and (21B), (23A) and (23B), (25A) and (25B), and (27A) and (27B) in FIG. 1 become coatings (21), (23), (25), and (27) respectively; and half-wave retardation plates (29A) and (29B) in FIG. 1 become single half-wave retardation plate (29).

Thus, in FIG. 2, light source (10), which is previously mentioned, most preferably uses a laser, emits input beam (12) which is comprised of two linear orthogonally polarized components as indicated by the two arrows, which, again, may or may not be of the same optical frequency. Just as was mentioned with reference to FIG. 1, when the two linear orthogonally polarized components of beam (12) differ in frequency, source (10) provides an electrical reference signal (11), shown by dotted lines in FIG. 2, corresponding to this frequency difference, with no such reference signal (11) being provided when the two linear orthogonally polarized components comprising input beam (12) are of the same optical frequency. Beam (12) is incident on shear plate (16) which is a tilted glass substrate with optically flat surfaces (17) and (18) which are mutually parallel. The function of tilted parallel plate (16) is to spatially separate the two polarization components using conventional polarization techniques. Thus, in the embodiment of FIG. 2, beam (12) is divided by tilted parallel plate (16), with aid of antireflection coatings (21) and (27), polarizing coating (23) and reflective coating (25), to become vertically polarized beam (30) and horizontally polarized beam (31). Beam (31) passes through the single half-wave retardation plate (29) which rotates the linear polarization of beam (31) by 90.degree. so that resultant beam (33) has the same polarization as beam (30). Beams (30) and (33) enter polarizing beamsplitter (40) with polarizing coating (42) and are transmitted as beams (34) and (35) respectively. Beams (34) and (35) pass through quarter-wave retardation plate (44) and are converted into circularly polarized beams (50) and (51) respectively. Beam (51) is reflected from fixed reference mirror (71) to become beam (51A) while beam (50) is reflected from movable mirror (70) affixed to the stage whose relative position is being measured to become (50A). Beams (50A) and (51A) pass back through quarter-wave retardation plate (44) and are converted back into linearly polarized beams that are orthogonally polarized to the original incident beams (34) and (35). Beams (50A) and 51A) are reflected by polarizing coating (42), retroreflector (45), and polarizing coating (42) a second time to become beams (56) and (57). Beams (56) and (57) pass through quarterwave retardation plate (44) and are converted into circularly polarized beams (58) and (59). Beam (59) is reflected from fixed reference mirror (71) to become beam (59A) while beam (58) is reflected from movable mirror (70) to become beam (58A). Beams (58A) and (59A) pass back through quarter-wave retardation plate (44) and are converted back into linearly polarized beams that are polarized the same as the original incident beams (34) and (35). Beams (58A) and (59A) are transmitted by polarized coating (42) and leave polarizing beamsplitter (40) as beams (60) and (63). Beams (60) and (63) are mutually parallel by virtue of the inherent optical properties of retroreflector (45), independent of any tilt that may be present between mirrors (70) and (71). Beam (60) passes through the single half-wave retardation plate (29) which rotates the linear polarization of beam (60) by 90.degree. so that resultant beam (62) has a linear polarization which is orthogonal to beam (63). Beams (62) and (63) are combined by shear plate (16), with the aid of antireflection coatings (21) and (27), polarizing coating (23) and reflective coating (25), to become beam (80).

Once again beam (80) in the embodiment of FIG. 2, like input beam (12), has two orthogonally polarized components. Each component, as was true with the FIG. 1 embodiment, has traversed exactly the same optical path length (through air and glass) except for the optical path, "nl", between mirrors (70) and (71) where "n" is the index of refraction of the medium between mirrors (70) and (71) and "l" is the distance between mirrors (70) and (71). The optical path length corresponding to this distance "l", results in a phase difference between the two polarization components of beam (80). Motion of mirror (70) causes this phase difference to vary. This phase variation is directly proportional to the distance, "L", moved by mirror (70) for a constant "n" and is measured by passing beam (80) through polarizer (81), oriented at 45.degree. to each polarization component, which mixes the two orthogonally polarized components in beam (80) to give beam (82). Similarly, if "l" is fixed and "n" varies, then the phase variation is directly proportional to the change in "n". As was also true in the FIG. 1 embodiment, the interference between the two polarization components is detected by photodetector (83) producing electrical signal (85). Again, as was also true with respect to the FIG. 1 embodiment, when the two polarization components of beam (12) are of the same optical frequency, module (90) does not require reference signal (11) since there is no corresponding frequency difference, and conventionally extracts the phase variation from signal (85) such as in the manner described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,271. However, when the two polarization components of beam (12) are of different frequencies, an additional sinusoidal electrical reference signal (11) equal in frequency to the difference between the two optical frequencies is required by electronic module (90), which reference signal (11), as previously mentioned, would be provided from source (10) in which instance photodetector (83) would detect the interference between the two frequency components as a sinusoidal intensity variation with a frequency approximately equal to the difference frequency between the two components of beam (12), such as explained in my copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 810,999 of which this application is a continuation in part, and module (90) would preferably comprise a phase meter/accumulator such as described in the aforementioned copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 710,928. In either event, electronic module (90) provides output (92) which, as previously mentioned with respect to the FIG. 1 embodiment, is directly proportional to the change in optical path length, "nl", between mirrors (70) and (71). Thus, both the FIGS. 1 and 2 embodiments employ optical configurations which are extremely insensitive to measurement error because changes in the other optical components, such as those induced mechanically or thermally, affect both polarization components equally and therefore have no influence on the measured phase variation (92). In addition, as was previously mentioned with reference to the FIG. 1 embodiment, environmental effects, such as variations in the refractive index of air, can be minimized by placing mirror (71) close to mirror (70) to reduce the optical path length difference between the two polarization components.

The principle advantages of the instant invention are: (1) fewer number of optical components, (2) simpler beam paths, (3) fewer reflections, (4) greater light throughput efficiency, (5) smaller wavefront distortion, (6) reduced optical leakage, (7) reduced non-linearity errors, and (8) lower cost.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been disclosed, obviously modification can be made therein, without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.