Simultaneous 3-D Surface Profiling of Multiple Targets by Repetition Rate Scanning of a Single Femtosecond Laser

Abstract

We present an integrated scheme of 3-D surface profile measurements made at multiple sites concurrently by employing only a single fiber femtosecond laser as the common light source of low coherence scanning interferometry. This versatile use of an ultrashort mode-locked laser is enabled by linear scanning control of the pulse repetition rate on the source site, while diverse forms of unequal-path, non-symmetric measurements are taken with nanometer precision for different targets simply by delivering f(r)-scanned pulses through a fiber network. This proposed scheme has no restriction on the number of interferometer sites being integrated concurrently, allowing more diverse industrial applications of ultrashort lasers despite increased system cost and complexity.