Multiple-surface interference fringes analysis basing on wavelength-modulated phase shifting interferometry

Phase-shifting interferometry is widely used for high-precision surface measurements, but has difficulty in dealing with parallel optical plates. In this paper, an advanced method is proposed to simultaneously measure surface distributions of parallel optical plates from multiple surface interference fringes. The basic theory behind the technique is by applying wavelength-modulated phase shifting interferometry (WMPSI) to get enough frames of multiple surface interference fringes. In the procession of wavelength-modulated phase shifting, the phase variation for one point of the surface is traced and is processed by Fourier transform, and then the frequency spectrum of every surface can be separated from each other. Therefore, it allows extraction of front surface, back surface and thickness variation from multiple surface interference fringes with high precision.