BW-H501 outputs and displays real-time height images at 5 fps. A heating stage allows observation and analysis of the deformation process of film and gel samples in real time. And, with high precision measurement of 10nm using white light interferometry, it is now possible to analyze and evaluate the surface roughness of objects.

Observation and analysis of optically diffusive surfaces, a weakness of conventional optical systems, presents no difficulty. The profiler can be used to evaluate the surface of ceramic coated film and diffuser plates.

With the fringe cycle method, the coordinate value on the Z-axis with the maximum local focus measure is taken as the height of each pixel. Generating an interference fringe on the surface of the object with a two beam interference objective lens generates a very high focus measure, achieving effective height resolution of 100 nm and repeatable precision of σ = 10 nm, delivering height image capture with high-precision.

The BWH-501's X-Cycle Imager combines a piezo actuator with a high-speed camera for unique high-speed image capture. Image capture of 900 fps is possible with output and display of real-time height images at 5 fps. Captured height images undergo accumulative addition with suppressed random noise components. Real-time extended depth of focus (EDF) images may be output or displayed as a freeze-frame image. Real-time height images may also be output or displayed with pseudocolors.

BridgeElements software controls image input and analysis modules, and loads observed and saved images. Additionally, multiple images can be processed simultaneously so that images may be compared in real-time.