Patent ID: 8213021

Claim:
A method of interferometric profilometry of a sample made of a composite material comprising the following steps: measuring an interference signal produced by the sample with an interferometer and determining a corresponding phase at a plurality of pixels over the sample; calculating an effective value of an optical property of said composite material at each pixel based on said interference signal measured at each of said plurality of pixels; and correcting said phase at each of said plurality of pixels using said effective value of the optical property calculated for each pixel; wherein said determining, calculating and correcting steps are carried out with a computer; and wherein said calculating step is carried out assuming an empirical relationship between a known value of said optical property for a material and an interference signal produced by said material; said empirical relationship is established using interference data produced by materials with known values for said optical property; and said empirical relationship is used to derive an absolute value of said optical property for the composite material.