A wear amount measuring apparatus includes a light source, a light transmission unit, a first and a second irradiation unit, a spectroscope and an analysis unit. The light transmission unit splits a low-coherence light from the light source into a first and a second low-coherence light. The first and the second irradiation units irradiate the first and the second low-coherence light to the component to receive reflected lights from the component. The light transmission unit transmits the reflected lights received by the first irradiation unit and the second irradiation unit to the spectroscope. The spectroscope configured to detect intensity distribution of the reflected lights from the first and the second irradiation unit. The analysis unit calculates a thickness difference between a thickness of the component at the first measuring point and that at the second measuring point by performing Fourier transform on the intensity distribution.

A laser tracking system for determining pose information of a rigid object is disclosed. The laser tracking system includes three or more retroreflectors, three or more sets of multiple laser trackers, and an electronic controller. Each retroreflector is secured to the rigid object that is moveable within a frame of reference. For each set of laser trackers, each laser tracker is configured to direct a laser beam to and receive a reflected laser beam from an associated one of the retroreflectors within the frame of reference. The electronic controller is in communication with each of the laser trackers and determines the pose information of the rigid object in the reference frame based on information about the fixed location of each laser tracker in the frame of reference and information about a distance of each retroreflector from each laser tracker of the set of laser trackers associated with the retroreflector.

A system for inspecting a slab of material may include an optical fiber, a broadband light source configured to emit light having wavelengths of 780-1800 nanometers over the optical fiber, a beam-forming assembly configured to receive the light over the optical fiber and direct the light toward a slab of material, the beam-forming assembly may be configured to maintain the position of one or more elements within the beam-forming assembly despite changes in environmental temperature; a computer-controlled etalon filter configured to receive the light over the optical fiber, filter the light, and direct the light over the optical fiber; and a computer-controlled spectrometer configured to receive the light over the optical fiber after the light has been filtered by the etalon filter and after the light has been reflected from or transmitted through the slab of material and spectrally analyze the light.

Disclosed is a three-dimensional shape measuring apparatus using a diffraction grating, comprising: a light splitter installed in a traveling direction of a light generated from a light source unit and configured to reflect a portion of the light along a first path and transmit a portion of the light along a second path; an image sensor unit configured to receive a light traveling along the first path and reflected from a measurement target having at least one hole, and measure the shape of the measurement target; and a diffraction grating disposed on at least one light path among a light path between the light source unit and the light splitter, a light path between the measurement target and the light splitter, and a light path between the measurement target and the image sensor unit.

A system for inspecting a slab of material may include an optical fiber, a broadband light source configured to emit light having wavelengths of 780-1800 nanometers over the optical fiber, a beam-forming assembly configured to receive the light over the optical fiber and direct the light toward a slab of material, the beam-forming assembly may be configured to maintain the position of one or more elements within the beam-forming assembly despite changes in environmental temperature; a computer-controlled etalon filter configured to receive the light over the optical fiber, filter the light, and direct the light over the optical fiber; and a computer-controlled spectrometer configured to receive the light over the optical fiber after the light has been filtered by the etalon filter and after the light has been reflected from or transmitted through the slab of material and spectrally analyze the light.

A sample may be illuminated in such a way that light passes through the sample, reflects from a set of reflectors, passes through the sample again and travels to a light sensor. The reflectors may be staggered in depth beneath the sample, each reflector being at a different depth. Light reflecting from each reflector, respectively, may arrive at the light sensor during a different time interval than that in which light reflecting from other reflectors arrivesor may have a different phase than that of light reflecting from the other reflectors. The light sensor may separately measure light reflecting from each reflector, respectively. The reflectors may be extremely small, and the separate reflections from the different reflectors may be combined in a super-resolved image. The super-resolved image may have a spatial resolution that is better than that indicated by the diffraction limit.

Apparatus and methods are described, for detecting the surface topography of a portion of a curved surface of an object. A beam of light is directed toward the surface from a broad angle of incidence with respect to an optical axis of a camera. Light reflected from the surface is received by the camera, via a narrow-angle aperture. One or more darkened regions in the received light are detected, and the surface topography of portion of the surface is detected at least partially in response to the detected darkened regions. Other applications are also described.

An OCT system includes a light source configured to generate an optical beam, a Fizeau-type interferometer configured to receive the optical beam and produce an interference pattern, a detector configured to receive the interference pattern and produce an image signal, and a processing circuit including a processor and a memory, the memory being structured to store instructions that are executable by the processor to cause the processor to receive the image signal from the detector and generate an OCT image based on the image signal. The Fizeau-type interferometer includes a scanning element configured to receive the optical beam and direct the optical beam in a plurality of directions towards a sample and a reflective element configured to divide the directed optical beam into a reference beam and a sample beam that reflects off of a surface of a sample.

A wear amount measuring apparatus includes a light source, a light transmission unit, a first and a second irradiation unit, a spectroscope and an analysis unit. The light transmission unit splits a low-coherence light from the light source into a first and a second low-coherence light. The first and the second irradiation units irradiate the first and the second low-coherence light to the component to receive reflected lights from the component. The light transmission unit transmits the reflected lights received by the first irradiation unit and the second irradiation unit to the spectroscope. The spectroscope configured to detect intensity distribution of the reflected lights from the first and the second irradiation unit. The analysis unit calculates a thickness difference between a thickness of the component at the first measuring point and that at the second measuring point by performing Fourier transform on the intensity distribution.

A system for inspecting a slab of material may include an optical fiber, a broadband light source configured to emit light having wavelengths of 780-1800 nanometers over the optical fiber, a beam-forming assembly configured to receive the light over the optical fiber and direct the light toward a slab of material, the beam-forming assembly may be configured to maintain the position of one or more elements within the beam-forming assembly despite changes in environmental temperature; a computer-controlled etalon filter configured to receive the light over the optical fiber, filter the light, and direct the light over the optical fiber; and a computer-controlled spectrometer configured to receive the light over the optical fiber after the light has been filtered by the etalon filter and after the light has been reflected from or transmitted through the slab of material and spectrally analyze the light.