LAUSR

To further study the microscopic mechanism and beam diameter effect during light depolarization (LDP), we developed a compact laser instrument (λ=632.8  nm) with an adjustable beam diameter of ≥18  μm (approximately 28λ). Six nickel plate samples with rms roughness, Rq, of 42 nm to 2.3 μm (i.e., 0.067-3.7λ) fabricated by the fine-honing method are examined. To analyze the beam diameter effect as applying LDP for submicron and micron Rq evaluation, the cross-sectional beam-spot size (BSS) is adjusted from 20 μm to 650 μm during off-specular inspections. The results of BSS ≤40  μm (i.e., 60λ) have a 10-nm-level Rq sensitivity, while those of BSS ≥140  μm (220λ) have about a 100 times weaker sensitivity. It means that BSS of 60λ and 220λ should have instructional significance as applying LDP for precision levels of 10 nm and 1 μm surface roughness analyses, respectively. In addition, since the instrument is simple, portable, stable, and low-cost, it has great potential for both LDP analyses and practical online roughness testing.