Interferometric distance measuring arrangement and corresponding method

An interferometric distance measuring arrangement for measuring surfaces according to the principle of optical coherence tomography, comprising:

• a tunable laser source having a coherence length for generating measurement radiation (MS) modulated with a wavelength ramp, wherein the coherence length of the laser source defines the measurement range;
• an optical beam path comprising
• a transmitting optical unit for emitting the measurement radiation (MS) onto the surface,
• a receiving optical unit for receiving the measurement radiation (MS) backscattered from the surface, and
• an interferometer comprising a measurement arm and a reference arm;
• and
• a radiation detector and an evaluation unit for determining the distance from a reference point of the distance measuring arrangement to the surface, wherein:
• at least one beam splitter having n≧2 channels for the parallel emission of measurement radiation (MS) defined, which are allocated in each case a different subrange of the measurement range defined by the coherence length, wherein the channels are arranged in the transmitting optical unit in a line- or matrix-like fashion.

An interferometric distance measuring method for measuring surfaces according to the principle of optical coherence tomography, the method comprising:

• generating measurement radiation (MS) modulated with a wavelength ramp by means of a laser source having an coherence length, wherein the coherence length of the laser source defines the measurement range,
• emitting the measurement radiation (MS) onto the surface,
• receiving the measurement radiation (MS) backscattered from the surface together with interferometrically determining the distance from a reference point of the distance measuring arrangement to the surface, wherein:
• upon emission, the measurement radiation (MS) is guided in parallel via n≧2 channels, which are allocated in each case a different subrange of the measurement range defined by the coherence length.