This Open Access book discusses an extension to low-coherence interferometry by
dispersion-encoding. The approach is theoretically designed and implemented for applications
such as surface profilometry polymeric cross-linking estimation and the determination of
thin-film layer thicknesses. During a characterization it was shown that an axial measurement
range of 79.91 µm with an axial resolution of 0.1 nm is achievable. Simultaneously profiles of
up to 1.5 mm in length were obtained in a scan-free manner. This marked a significant
improvement in relation to the state-of-the-art in terms of dynamic range. Also the axial and
lateral measurement range were decoupled partially while functional parameters such as surface
roughness were estimated. The characterization of the degree of polymeric cross-linking was
performed as a function of the refractive index. It was acquired in a spatially-resolved manner
with a resolution of 3.36 x 10-5. This was achieved by the development of a novel mathematical
analysis approach.
