White-light interferometry on rough surfaces--measurement uncertainty caused by noise
1Palacky University, Faculty of Science, Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials, Joint Laboratory of Optics of Palacky University and Institute of Physics of Academy of Science of the Czech Republic, Olomouc, Czech Republic. Pavel.Pavlicek@upol.cz
Abstract:
White-light interferometry on rough surfaces is an optical method for the measurement of the geometrical form of objects. The longitudinal coordinate of the measured surface is obtained from the measured interferogram by means of an evaluation method. However, the longitudinal coordinate cannot be determined completely accurately because the interferogram is affected by noise. We calculate the lower limit of the longitudinal measurement uncertainty caused by noise by use of the Cramer-Rao inequality. Additionally, we calculate the lower limit of the longitudinal measurement uncertainty caused by shot noise only.
Related Concept Videos
Uncertainty in Measurement: Reading Instruments
Uncertainty in Measurement: Accuracy and Precision
Uncertainty: Overview
Random and Systematic Errors
Propagation of Uncertainty from Systematic Error
Propagation of Uncertainty from Random Error


