Ultrasonic Interferometer for High-Accuracy Linear Measurements

An application of ultrasonic interferometry is proposed and investigated as a new possible technique for high-accuracy linear and angular measurements. The basic principle of the proposed technique is the use of coherent running acoustic wave propagation along homogeneous solid waveguide in the capacity of linear measuring scale. The RMS sensitivity to the linear drift of 0.5 μm and RMS error of absolute measurement of ± 12 μm over the distance up to one meter have been achieved experimentally.