Design of a chromatic confocal displacement sensor integrated with an optical laser head

In this paper, the methodology for design of the system consisting of chromatic confocal displacement sensor integrated with an optical laser head was presented. Furthermore, the results of experimental characterization of optical components of the laser head were also included in the numerical analysis. The designed chromatic confocal displacement sensor was analyzed as an assembly of components widely available on the optical market. Nevertheless, the main goal of the numerical optimization was to determine the influence of individual components of the optical path of the system on its parameters, i.e., measuring range, FWHM of the characteristic spectral peak, and intensity that reaches the detector. The optimized solution was characterized in order to determine the calibration curve, as well as other important application parameters of the system. Moreover, taking into consideration the integration aspect the caustic of the laser beam shaped by the laser head was measured. Finally, the versatility of the system was presented and discussed.