LOW-COHERENCE REFLECTOMETRY FOR STATIONARY LATERAL AND DEPTH PROFILING WITH ACOUSTOOPTIC DEFLECTORS AND A CCD CAMERA

We describe a new optical low-coherence reflectometer for depth and la teral scanning without moving parts. The reflectometer covers a range of 0.4 and 1 mm in the depth and lateral dimensions, respectively. Thi s level was accomplished by an acousto-optic deflector for lateral sca nning and temporal-coherence gating for depth resolution. The ac compo nent of the reflected light was captured by a cooled 16-bit CCD camera with a special readout scheme. As a proof of principle, optical depth s of a staggered stack of glass plates were measured.