Systems and methods for measuring a profile characteristic of a glass sample

A method of measuring a profile characteristic of a glass sample disposed adjacent a reference block having a top surface, comprising:

• scanning a polarization-switched light beam through the glass sample and the reference block for different depths into the glass sample to define a transmitted polarization-switched light beam;
• measuring an amount of power in the polarization-switched light beam to form a polarization-switched reference signal;
• detecting the transmitted polarization-switched light beam to form a polarization-switched detector signal;
• dividing the polarization-switched detector signal by the polarization-switched reference signal to define a normalized polarization-switched detector signal;
• and
• processing the normalized polarization-switched detector signal to determine the profile characteristic of the glass sample.

A method of measuring a profile characteristic of a glass sample disposed adjacent a reference block, comprising:

• generating a polarization-switched light beam that is switched between orthogonal polarizations at a rate of between 1 Hz and 50 Hz;
• measuring an amount of power in the polarization-switched light beam and generating a polarization-switched reference signal, wherein the measured amounts of power in each of the orthogonal polarizations are within 50% of each other;
• transmitting the polarization-switched light beam through the glass sample and reference block for different depths into the glass sample;
• relaying the transmitted polarization-switched light beam to a signal photodetector using a relay optical system, with the signal photodetector generating a polarization-switched detector signal;
• dividing the detector signal by the reference signal to form a normalized detector signal;
• and
• determining the profile characteristic of the glass sample from the normalized detector signal.