title: Sub-nanometer periodic nonlinearity error in absolute distance interferometers.
abstract: Periodic nonlinearity which can result in error in nanometer scale has become a main problem limiting the absolute distance measurement accuracy. In order to eliminate this error, a new integrated interferometer with non-polarizing beam splitter is developed. This leads to disappearing of the frequency and/or polarization mixing. Furthermore, a strict requirement on the laser source polarization is highly reduced. By combining retro-reflector and angel prism, reference and measuring beams can be spatially separated, and therefore, their optical paths are not overlapped. So, the main cause of the periodic nonlinearity error, i.e., the frequency and/or polarization mixing and leakage of beam, is eliminated. Experimental results indicate that the periodic phase error is kept within 0.0018°.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ultra-Precision Optoelectronic Instrument Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150080, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hongxing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ultra-Precision Optoelectronic Instrument Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150080, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Kaiqi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ultra-Precision Optoelectronic Instrument Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150080, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Pengcheng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ultra-Precision Optoelectronic Instrument Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150080, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Pengfei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ultra-Precision Optoelectronic Instrument Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150080, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jiubin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Postdoctoral Research Station of Optical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhigang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fan