AIMST Interferometers utilise a double-pass Jamin type interferometer beam-splitter block to enable the instrument to
address the requirements of high precision interferometric displacement measurement applications by using fixed and
moving cube-corner retro-reflector modules in conjunction with the interferometer beam-splitter head and electronics.
This common path optical configuration for the interferometer results in a displacement measurement instrument that
is inherently stable, requires minimal alignment and achieves extremely high resolution and accuracy in the measurement
of any differences between the optical paths of the two beams.
The use of cube-corner retro-reflectors reduces the optical alignments required for the system to function to the
relatively simple operations of superimposing the retro-reflected reference and measurement beams to produce
interferograms and arranging for these to fall onto photo-detectors.
The beam-splitter coating and photo-detector amplifier circuit taken together, obviate the need for the use of
polarisers and phase retardation plates and make the system insensitive to variations in the polarisation state
of the light source.
A microprocessor, in conjunction with the electronic path length modulator unit, facilitates the alignment of the
system and further optimises the electrical signals to maintain the instrument's measurement linearity for the process
of optical fringe sub-division.
The optical design of the AIMST Interferometer beamsplitter automatically eliminates any effects from unwanted strays
by displacing them from the optical system.
The common-path operation of the AIMST Interferometer not only makes this system insensitive to mechanical variations
in the environment but also to the effects of the thermal variations of the atmosphere.
The AIMST Interferometer can be used for measurements in extremely hostile environments, the instrument achieving
high precision common-path measurement whilst totally isolated from the hostile environment.
