Research of Scanning Nonuniformity in an Optical Interference Microscope

The scanning nonuniformity in an optical interference microscope is studied using a micrometer stage and a piezoceramic actuator. The interference during scanning is recorded by a high-speed digital video camera, which allowed for detailed recording of the interference signal. The scanning results demonstrate the nonuniformity of the distances between adjacent interference fringes along the reference axis (frame number). A procedure that significantly decrease the value of nonuniformity is presented. The use of such a procedure allows for the formation of a metric scale along the scanning axis, which can be used when performing high-precision interference measurements of the surface microrelief.