Measurement of small displacement based on surface plasmon resonance heterodyne interferometry

This paper proposes an optical method for measuring small displacements using the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) heterodyne interferometry. A heterodyne light beam reflected by a mirror passes through a hemisphere glass and then enters into a surface plasmon resonance apparatus at the resonant angle. A small displacement of the mirror will introduce a phase-difference variation between p- and s-polarizations of the light emerging from the SPR apparatus. The phase-difference variation can be precisely measured with the heterodyne interferometric technique, and the associated displacement can be estimated. The feasibility of this method was verified by experiment, and the displacement measurement resolution of about 1.4 nm over a traveling range of 6 μm was achieved. Our method of measurement has the merits of both common-path interferometry and heterodyne interferometry.

► An optical method towards the detection of small displacements is developed.
► Small displacements are related to phase differences of interference signals.
► The phase differences are measured by surface plasmon resonance heterodyne interferometry.
► The method has the merits of high resolution and stability due to the common-path configuration.