Angewandte statistische Optik in der Weißlicht-Interferometrie: Räumliches Phasenschieben und Einfluss optisch rauer Oberflächen

This thesis describes a novel one-shot white-light interferometer for three-dimensional sensing. The method is based on spatial phase shifting which renders mechanical phase shifting unneces-sary. Due to the absence of any mechanical transducers, its static optical setup is well suited for applications outside the laboratory. Its one-shot ability is of great interest for contactless and high precision quality inspection as well as for medical applications. Also, it allows a quanti-tative monitoring of dynamic surface processes. The first part of this thesis describes the development of the optical setup in context of physical limitations and technical requirements, followed by a detailed discussion of single components and their influence onto the accuracy of the system. Furthermore, the statistical properties of speckle patterns, which appear for diffusely scattering samples, are derived. Thus, existing theories, relating the measurement uncertainty of white-light interferometry to the influence of speckle, are extended. By means of simulations and experimental techniques presented in this thesis, it is possible to verify the theoretical predictions and to clarify the consequences. Especially in context of high numerical apertures, these results have to be taken into account to improve the optical setup as well as the performance of signal processing algorithms.