A novel non-contact profiler design for measuring synchrotron radiation mirrors

A novel optical profiler is described in this paper for measurement of surface profiles of synchrotron radiation (SR) mirrors. The measurement is based on a combination of an optical heterodyne technique and a precise phase measurement procedure without a reference surface. A Zeeman two-frequency He-Ne laser is employed as the light source. The common-path optical system, which uses a birefringent lens as the beam splitter, minimizes the effects of air turbulence, sample vibration and temperature variation. A special autofocus system allows the profiler to measure the roughness and shape of a sample surface. The optical system is mounted on a large linear air-bearing slide, and is capable of scanning over distances covering the spatial period range from several microns to nearly one meter with a high measurement accuracy. 9 refs., 5 figs