title: Absolute displacement measurements using modulation of the spectrum of white light in a Michelson interferometer.
abstract: A technique is presented for measuring small displacements by observing the frequency of spectral modulation of white light in a Michelson interferometer. An experiment is described in which the step size of a stepper-motor-driven translation stage was measured by recording the spectrum of light output from an interferometer and performing a cross-correlation calculation with theoretical spectra. Measurements made using standard laboratory-quality optical equipment were accurate to within ~10 nm for a range of over 100 microm.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Dobson