Subdivision is one of the essential methods to improve the measurement resolution of optical instruments. A new method is proposed to solve lambda/16 bidirectional subdivision and direction recognition for orthogonal interference signals by constructing two sets of reference signals and using zero-cross detection. The experimental results prove that the method is efficient for orthogonal signals and has good real-time performance by field-programmable gate array realization. This method is easy to realize by use of electronic design automation tools and can be widely used in the signal processing system of optical measurement instruments such as a moiré fringe measurement system and laser interferometer.

A roll-angle measurement interferometer with good stability and high sensitivity is presented. In the system, two sets of spatial parallel beams with different frequencies are formed with the help of a Koster prism, a corner cube, a quarter-wave plate, a wedge prism, and a wedge mirror. The wedge prism is used for the roll-angle sensing component, the roll of which will cause the changes of the optical path of the two beams with different frequencies. This interferometer complies with the principle of common path which minimizes the dead path; the cross talk of straightness, pitch, and yaw errors are avoided in this specific structure which enhances the stability and precision of the measurement. The experimental result fits well with the theoretical analysis and a measurement resolution of 2 μrad is achieved with an electronic interpolation of 2π∕512.

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A roll angle interferometer with high sensitivity is designed in this paper. Two sets of centrosymmetric beams are used to travel through the measurement and reference arms of the roll angle interferometer which contains two specific optical devices: wedge prism assembly and wedge mirror assembly. The optical path change in both arms caused by roll is converted into phase shift which can be measured by interferometer. Because of the adoption of the centrosymmetric measurement structure, the straightness errors, yaw error and pitch error can be avoided and the dead path is minimized, so that the stability and the accuracy of the measurement can be greatly enhanced. The resolution for the roll measurement is about 0.006″ with the measurement range of ±1°.