Surface-profile measurement by means of a polarization Sagnac interferometer with parallel optical feedback

We describe a novel feedback interferometer for real-time, unambiguous measurement of surface profiles that consists of a polarization Sagnac interferometer and an optically addressed phase-only spatial light modulator. In this system the output intensity from the Sagnac interferometer is optically fed back to the phase modulator placed in one arm of the interferometer, which produces a sawtooth fringe intensity profile (instead of the conventional cosinusoidal one) that is directly and unambiguously related to the surface profile. Preliminary experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of applying this system to surface-profile measurement. (C) 1999 Optical Society of America.