Remote and high precision step height measurement with an optical fiber multiplexing interferometric system

•A remote and high precision step height measurement system is realized.•The peak of the low coherence interferogram could be identified precisely.•The system is stabilized by a feedback loop for on-line measurement.•The measurement range is 6 mm and the measurement resolution is less than 1 nm.

An optical fiber multiplexing low coherence and high coherence interferometric system, which includes a Fizeau interferometer as the sensing element and a Michelson interferometer as the demodulating element, is designed for remote and high precision step height measurement. The Fizeau interferometer is placed in the remote field for sensing the measurand, while the Michelson interferometer which works in both modes of low coherence interferometry and high coherence interferometry is employed for demodulating the measurand. The range of the step height is determined by the low coherence interferometry and the value of it is measured precisely by the high coherence interferometry. High precision has been obtained by searching precisely the peak of the low coherence interferogram symmetrically from two sides of the low coherence interferogram and stabilizing the Michelson interferometer with a feedback loop. The maximum step height that could be measured is 6 mm while the measurement resolution is less than 1 nm. The standard deviation of 10 times measurement results of a step height of 1 mm configurated with two gauge blocks is 0.5 nm.