Distance measurement system and optical resolution improvement apparatus

A distance measurement system, comprising:

• a light source emitting a coherent light;
• a first means for modulating the light emitted from the light source into two lights which have frequencies different from each other and are irradiated separately adjacent to each other;
• a second means for one-dimensionally or two-dimensionally scanning the two lights;
• a third means for irradiating an object under measurement with the two lights which are two-dimensionally scanned;
• a fourth means for receiving at least two or more divided reflected lights or transmitted lights from the object under measurement with a boundary line being interposed therebetween in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction in which the two lights are separated;
• a fifth means for generating a difference signal or a summation signal of respective outputs of the lights received by the fourth means in areas with the boundary line being interposed therebetween;
• and
• a sixth means for obtaining a phase difference or an intensity difference of the difference signal or the summation signal to obtain a measurement value.

An optical resolution improvement apparatus, comprising:

• a light source irradiating a light, which is irradiated convergently or irradiated in parallel, to an object under measurement;
• a first light processing member located on an irradiation optical axis of the convergent irradiation or the parallel irradiation and receiving and processing a luminous flux emitted from the object under measurement;
• a first photo detector having at least two divided photo detectors which receive lights of respective side portions with the irradiation optical axis being interposed therebetween within a transmitted light from the first light processing member;
• a pair of second light processing members each located on a tilted optical axis having a tilt with respect to the irradiation optical axis on one of light receiving sides of the divided photo detectors of the first photo detector, and receiving and processing a luminous flux emitted from the object under measurement and making the luminous flux and a luminous flux emitted from the first light processing member interfere with each other;
• a pair of second photo detectors receiving the luminous fluxes made to interfere by the pair of second light processing members;
• and
• an output difference detection unit detecting an output difference between the divided photo detectors located with the irradiation optical axis of the first photo detector being interposed therebetween and an output difference between the pair of second photo detectors.

An optical resolution improvement apparatus, comprising:

• a light source irradiating a light, which is irradiated convergently or irradiated in parallel, to an object under measurement;
• a first optical element located on a tilted optical axis having a tilt with respect to an irradiation optical axis of the convergent irradiation or the parallel irradiation and making two luminous fluxes interfere with each other;
• a plurality of first photo detectors each detecting the luminous fluxes made to interfere by the first optical element;
• a second optical element located on a tilted optical axis having a tilt reverse to that of the first optical element with respect to an irradiation optical axis of the convergent irradiation or the parallel irradiation and making two luminous fluxes interfere with each other;
• a plurality of second photo detectors each detecting the luminous fluxes made to interfere by the second optical element;
• and
• an output difference detection unit detecting an output value of a difference between an arbitrary light receiving output of the plurality of first photo detectors and an arbitrary light receiving output of the plurality of second photo detectors.