A sinusoidal phase-modulating fiber-optic interferometer insensitive to the intensity change of the light source

In a conventional laser-diode sinusoidal phase-modulating (LD-SPM) interferometer, the wavelength of the LD is modulated by varying its injection current. The intensity modulation concurrent with the wavelength modulation leads to measurement errors. A photothermal-modulation method has been proposed to decrease the intensity change of the LD; however, this method cannot be used to measure vibration with a high frequency, and the beam diameter is too large to be used to measure minute objects. In this paper, we propose LD-SPM fiber-optic interferometer, in which the effect of the intensity change of the light source on measurement is eliminated. The diameter of the light beam is less than 0.5 mm. Using this interferometer, we measured displacements of a mirror driven by a piezoelectric transducer. The measurement repeatability is less than 1 nm. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.