In this system the light reflected back over the path (10a) to be measured is fed directly into a semiconductor laser (8a). As is commonly known, the introduction of reflected power through the front, or emitting, facet of the laser actually alters the power present in the laser with an attendant effect on the signal from a photosensor (15) usually located on the rear facet of the laser. The output signal from the photosensor associated with the laser has an asymmetric sawtooth (triangular) waveform. This is in contrast to the output signal from a conventional interferometer which has a sinusoidal waveform.
The photosensor output signal is profoundly affected by the return beam. Also unexpectedly, the sawtooth output signal from the photosensor is an essentially linear signal over the range between adjacent fringes. That is, except for the transition at positive and negative peaks. As the path length (10a) of the reflected beam is increased or decreased, the sawtooth output signal changes in a direct linear relationship to the change in path length. This allows precise measurement of changes in distance less than the distance between adjacent fringes.