This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 10329 including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Introduction, and Conference Committee listing.

This publication presents a novel interferometric method for the simultaneous measurement of the phase and state of polarization of a light wave with arbitrary, in particular locally varying elliptical polarization. The mea- surement strategy is based on variations of the reference wave concerning phase and polarization and processing the interference patterns so obtained. With this method, that is very similar to the classical phase shifting interferometry, a complete analysis of spatially variant states of polarization and their phase fronts can be done in one measurement cycle. Furthermore, a direct analysis of specimens under test regarding birefringence and the impact on the phase of the incoming light can be realized. The theoretical description of the investigated methods and their experimental implementation are presented.

This work investigates methods to eliminate calibration errors as one of the limiting factors to reduce measurement uncertainty in Tilted-Wave-Interferometry. The correlations between errors in the model parameters and in the measurement result are investigated, taking into account the symmetry of the surface under test. Two schemes for the elimination of such errors are introduced: Rotations around the z-axis allow the removal on non-rotationally symmetric error components. Measurements in lateral shears allow the elimination of calibration errors with higher spatial frequency. The corresponding algorithms and underlying models are explained for both approaches and examples for their application are presented.

High precision measurement of optical elements with long focal length is affected by vibration, airflow and other environmental factors due to the long cavity length, which has been difficulty and hot issue in optical machining and detection. In order to overcome the difficulties of high precision measurement of optical elements with long focal length, the paper proposes a full-field heterodyne interferometric measurement technique that could effectively suppress the environmental interference. In the early related research, a series of Hertz-level high-stability, low-differential frequency acousto-optic frequency shifters were successfully developed, which could be applied to heterodyne interferometry, instead of traditional phase-shifting intererometry. On this basis, a full-field heterodyne interference measurement system is developed, using array detector with conventional frame rate for full-field detection, to solve the problem of different optical paths of reference light and measuring light in dynamic interferometers. It could effectively suppress the vibration, noise, airflow and other factors, and thus significantly improve measurement accuracy and environmental adaptability. In typical environment with vibration and airflow, our measurement system can achieve technical indicators as follows: surface measurement accuracy is better than λ/1000 and repeated measurement accuracy is better than 5λ/10000. Thereby the new full-field heterodyne interferometry could be applied to dynamic measurement of large-diameter optical components and systems quality inspection, system installation correction, on-line measurement and other areas.

We demonstrate the voltage induced switching of single defect centers between its charge states. The individual charge states do show different emission wavelengths and are identified by their ground state spin properties.

We demonstrate a phase imaging method based on a single-pixel camera based on a complex-amplitude representation to measure a surface profile of objects. The use of the complex-amplitude representation of the input signal and the phaseshifting technique enables us to perform the phase imaging of an object, that is, the profilometry. The complex-amplitude mask can directly represent the Hadamard patterns that have the positive and negative values. The complex-amplitude masks are displayed on phase modulation mode liquid crystal on silicon spatial light modulator (LCOS-SLM). Furthermore, the residual area is used for the reference beam with the phase shifting. Therefore, the phase imaging system with the coaxial structure has high stability for external disturbances.

A spatial-temporal phase shifting interferometry is proposed to suppress the phase errors in dynamic Fizeau interferometer. The process of phase errors suppression in this interferometry includes three steps: (1) utilizing the spatial phase shifting interferometry to calculate the initial phase; (2) viewing all the effects of the error sources as a complex; (3) utilizing the temporal phase shifting interferometry to obtain multiple different initial phases and calculate the average phase. Experimentally, the phase errors are suppressed effectively and the measurement results are in good agreement with those obtained by Zygo GPI interferometer, which verifies that the proposed interferometry is a powerful tool for phase errors suppression in dynamic interferometer.

A common way to test high-quality aspherical lenses is to use a measurement system based on a set of null corrector and a laser interferometer. The null corrector can either be a combination of spherical lenses or be a computer generated hologram (CGH), which compensates the aspheric wave-front being tested. However, the null optics can’t be repeatedly used once the shape of tested optics changes. Alternative active null correctors have been proposed based on dynamic phase modulator devices. A typical dynamic phase modulator is liquid crystal spatial light modulator (LCSLM), which can spatially change the refractive index of the liquid crystal and thus modify the phase of the input wave-front. Even though the measurement method based on LCSLM and laser interferometer has been proposed and demonstrated for optical testing several years ago, it still can’t be used in the high quality measurement process due to its limited accuracy. In this paper, we systematically study the factors such as LCSLM structure parameters, encoding error and laser interferometer performance, which significantly affect the measurement accuracy. Some solutions will be proposed in order to improve the measurement accuracy based on LCSLM and laser interferometer.

This paper proposes a quality assessment of focusing criteria for imaging in digital off-axis holography. In literature, several refocus criteria have been proposed in the past to get the best refocus distance in digital holography. As a general rule, the best focusing plane is determined by the reconstruction distance for which the criterion function presents a maximum or a minimum. To evaluate the robustness of these criteria, a set of thirteen criteria is compared with application on both amplitude and phase images from off-axis holographic data. Experimental results lead to define general rule and to exhibit the most robust criteria for accurate and rapid refocusing in digital holography.

In this contribution, we propose a method of digital holographic microscopy (DHM) that enables measurement of high numerical aperture spherical and aspherical microstructures of both concave and convex shapes. The proposed method utilizes reflection of the spherical illumination beam from the object surface and the interference with a spherical reference beam of the similar curvature. In this case, the NA of DHM is fully utilized for illumination and imaging of the reflected object beam. Thus, the system allows capturing the phase coming from larger areas of the quasi-spherical object and, therefore, offers possibility of high accuracy characterization of its surface even in the areas of high inclination. The proposed measurement procedure allows determining all parameters required for the accurate shape recovery: the location of the object focus point and the positions of the illumination and reference point sources. The utility of the method is demonstrated with characterization of surface of high NA focusing objects. The accuracy is firstly verified by characterization of a known reference sphere with low error of sphericity. Then, the method is applied for shape measurement of spherical and aspheric microlenses. The results provide a full-field reconstruction of high NA topography with resolution in the nanometer range. The surface sphericity is evaluated by the deviation from the best fitted sphere or asphere, and the important parameters of the measured microlens: e.g.: radius of curvature and conic constant.

Multiwavelength digital holography on moving objects enables fast and precise inline-measurements of surface pro files. Due to the use of multiple wavelengths, optically rough surfaces with structure heights in the micrometer range can be mapped unambiguously. In this work we explore the influence of the object velocity on height measurements on inclined surfaces. We show measurements using spatial-phase-shifting holography employing two wavelengths and object velocities of up to 90 mm/s with eye-safe cw-lasers with less than 1 mW of laser light. Despite motion blur exceeding the mean speckle size, reliable height measurements can be conducted at these velocities. The height map of a metal cone with two different slope angles (1° , 10° ) is measured at an exposure time of 2 ms. Using line shaped illumination, each frame yields a height map of approximately 2 x 17 mm². The overlap between the frames allows averaging as the image is put together, improving data quality. The mean repeatability of the height information in the investigated setup is better than 4.5 µm at a synthetic wavelength of 214 µm.

In digital holography (DH), the coherent nature of the employed light sources severely degrades the holographic reconstructions due to a mixture of speckle and incoherent additive noise. These can affect both the visual quality in holographic imaging and display, and the accuracy of quantitative phase-contrast reconstructions. Typically, the noise problem is tackled by reducing the illumination coherence, thus the most intuitive way involves the recording of multiple uncorrelated holograms to be incoherently combined. This framework is known as Multi-Look DH (MLDH). However, single shot recordings are highly desirable in DH, and numerical methods are required to go beyond the improvement bound of ML techniques. Among the existing image processing methods, the 3D Block Matching filtering (BM3D) has shown the best performance. Here we present the MLDH-BM3D, a method specifically suitable to filter DH images that combines the two aforementioned strategies to overcome their respective limitations. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this framework in three different experimental situations, i.e. reconstructions of single wavelength holograms and color holograms in the visible region and the challenging case of the Infrared Radiation Digital Holography (IRDH) reconstructions, where a very severe noise degradation occurs.

In this paper we present a miniaturized digital holographic sensor (HoloCut) for operation inside a machine tool.
With state-of-the-art 3D measurement systems, short-range structures such as tool marks cannot be resolved inside a machine tool chamber. Up to now, measurements had to be conducted outside the machine tool and thus processing data are generated offline.
The sensor presented here uses digital multiwavelength holography to get 3D-shape-information of the machined sample. By using three wavelengths, we get a large artificial wavelength with a large unambiguous measurement range of 0.5mm and achieve micron repeatability even in the presence of laser speckles on rough surfaces. In addition, a digital refocusing algorithm based on phase noise is implemented to extend the measurement range beyond the limits of the artificial wavelength and geometrical depth-of-focus. With complex wave field propagation, the focus plane can be shifted after the camera images have been taken and a sharp image with extended depth of focus is constructed consequently.
With 20mm x 20mm field of view the sensor enables measurement of both macro- and micro-structure (such as tool marks) with an axial resolution of 1 µm, lateral resolution of 7 µm and consequently allows processing data to be generated online which in turn qualifies it as a machine tool control.
To make HoloCut compact enough for operation inside a machining center, the beams are arranged in two planes: The beams are split into reference beam and object beam in the bottom plane and combined onto the camera in the top plane later on. Using a mechanical standard interface according to DIN 69893 and having a very compact size of 235mm x 140mm x 215mm (WxHxD) and a weight of 7.5 kg, HoloCut can be easily integrated into different machine tools and extends no more in height than a typical processing tool.

A single-shot technique to measure areal profiles on optically smooth and rough surfaces and for applications in noncooperative environments is presented. It is based on hyperspectral interferometry (HSI), a technique in which the output of a white-light interferometer provides the input to a hyperspectral imaging system. Previous HSI implementations suffered from inefficient utilisation of the available pixels which limited the number of measured coordinates and/or unambiguous depth range. In this paper a >20-fold increase in pixel utilization is achieved through the use of a 2-D microlens array as proposed for integral field units in astronomy applications. This leads to a 35×35 channel system with an unambiguous depth range of 0.88 mm.

Process control of laser processes still encounters many obstacles. Although these processes are stable, a narrow process parameter window during the process or process deviations have led to an increase on the requirements for the process itself and on monitoring devices.

Laser transmission welding as a contactless and locally limited joining technique is well-established in a variety of demanding production areas. For example, sensitive parts demand a particle-free joining technique which does not affect the inner components.

Inline integrated non-destructive optical measurement systems capable of providing non-invasive tomographical images of the transparent material, the weld seam and its surrounding areas with micron resolution would improve the overall process. Obtained measurement data enable qualitative feedback into the system to adapt parameters for a more robust process.

Within this paper we present the inline monitoring device based on Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography developed within the European-funded research project “Manunet Weldable”. This device, after adaptation to the laser transmission welding process is optically and mechanically integrated into the existing laser system. The main target lies within the inline process control destined to extract tomographical geometrical measurement data from the weld seam forming process. Usage of this technology makes offline destructive testing of produced parts obsolete. ^1,2,3,4

Within the last decade, 3D printing has moved from a costly approach of building mechanical items to the present state-of-the-art phase where access to 3D printers is now common, both in industry and in private places. The plastic printers are the most common type of 3D printers providing prints that are light, robust and of lower cost.

The robustness of the structure printed is only maintained if each layer printed is properly fused to its previously printed layers. In situations where the printed component has to accomplish a key mechanical role there is a need to characterize its mechanical strength. This may only be revealed by in-depth testing in order to discover unwanted air-gaps in the structure.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an in-depth imaging method, that is sensitive to variations in the refractive index and therefore can resolve with high resolution translucid samples.

We report on volume imaging of a 3D printed block made with 100% PLA fill. By employing ultrahigh resolution OCT (UHR-OCT) we show that some parts of the PLA volume reveal highly scattering interfaces which likely correspond to transitions from one layer to another. In doing so, we document that UHR-OCT can act as a powerful tool that can be used in detecting fractures between layers stemming from insufficient fusion between printed structure layers. UHR-OCT can therefore serve as an useful assessment method of quality of 3D prints.

The multiple layer paint systems on modern cars serve two end purposes, they firstly protect against corrosion and secondly give the desired visual appearance. To ensure consistent corrosion protection and appearance, suitable Quality Assurance (QA) measures on the final product are required. Various (layer thickness and consistency, layer composition, flake statistics, surface profile and layer dryness) parameters are of importance, each with specific techniques that can measure one or some of them but no technique that can measure all or most of them. Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a 3D imaging technique with micrometre resolution. Since 2016, OCT measurements of layer thickness and consistency, layer composition fingerprint and flake statistics have been reported. In this paper we demonstrate two more novel applications of OCT to automotive paints. Firstly, we use OCT to quantify unwanted surface texture, which leads to an “orange peel” visual defect. This was done by measuring the surface profiles of automotive paints, with an unoptimised precision of 37 nm over lateral range of 7 mm, to quantify texture of less than 500 nm. Secondly, we demonstrate that OCT can measure how dry a coating layer is by measuring how fast it is still shrinking quasiinstantaneously, using Fourier phase sensitivity.

We propose Chromatic Confocal Coherence Tomography as a new system able to achieve corrected topography measurements of multi-layered specimens by measuring position, thickness and refractive index of each layer simultaneously at each measurement point. This feature is achieved by a combination of a chromatic confocal scheme and an interferometric one. The numerical aperture of the used microscope objective has a significant effect on the measurement uncertainty. Hence, its contribution to uncertainty is discussed in more detail.

Although coherence scanning interferometry (CSI) commonly achieves a sub-nanometre noise level in surface topography measurement, the absolute accuracy is difficult to determine when measuring a surface that contains varying local slope angles and curvatures. Recent research has shown that it is possible to use a single sphere with a radius much greater than the source wavelength to calibrate the three-dimensional transfer function of a CSI system. A major requirement is the accurate knowledge of the sphere radius, but the three-dimensional measurement of a sphere with nanometre level uncertainty is a highly challenging metrology problem, and is not currently feasible. Perfect spheres do not exist and every measurement has uncertainty. Without having a quantitative understanding of the tolerance of the sphere radius, the calibration method cannot be used confidently for calibration of the transfer function of a CSI system that may be used in research laboratories or industry. In this paper, the effects of the tolerance of the radius of the calibration sphere on surface topography measurements are quantitatively analysed through a computational approach. CSI measurements of spherical, sinusoidal and rough surfaces are investigated in the presence of various degrees of radius error. A lookup table that relates the surface height error as a function of the radius error and surface slope angle is provided. The users may estimate the required tolerances of the sphere radius for their specific surface measurements if this calibration approach is used. The output of this paper provides a feasibility analysis for this calibration method for further development and applications.

This paper gives an approach for the application of the principle of GOBO projection for underwater 3D measurement systems based on optical 3D scanners using stereo cameras. The GOBO projection principle is explained and the special challenges of underwater structured light projection using GOBO projection are discussed. The new principle was realized in a laboratory setup where camera and projection unit were placed outside a water tank. Several experiments were performed in order to estimate the necessary measurement conditions and parameters such as exposure time, camera lens apertures, measurement field size, and object distance. Additionally, selected different fringe patterns were applied and analyzed. First measurements were performed using a mobile 3D scanner and a GOBO projection unit.

Inline three-dimensional measurements are a growing part of optical inspection. Considering increasing production capacities and economic aspects, dynamic measurements under motion are inescapable. Using a sequence of different pattern, like it is generally done in fringe projection systems, relative movements of the measurement object with respect to the 3d sensor between the images of one pattern sequence have to be compensated.

Based on the application of fully automated optical inspection of circuit boards at an assembly line, the knowledge of the relative speed of movement between the measurement object and the 3d sensor system should be used inside the algorithms of motion compensation. Optimally, this relative speed is constant over the whole measurement process and consists of only one motion direction to avoid sensor vibrations. The quantified evaluation of this two assumptions and the error impact on the 3d accuracy are content of the research project described by this paper.

For our experiments we use a glass etalon with non-transparent circles and transmitted light. Focused on the circle borders, this is one of the most reliable methods to determine subpixel positions using a couple of searching rays. The intersection point of all rays characterize the center of each circle. Based on these circle centers determined with a precision of approximately 1=50 pixel, the motion vector between two images could be calculated and compared with the input motion vector. Overall, the results are used to optimize the weight distribution of the 3d sensor head and reduce non-uniformly vibrations. Finally, there exists a dynamic 3d measurement system with an error of motion vectors about 4 micrometer. Based on this outcome, simulations result in a 3d standard deviation at planar object regions of 6 micrometers. The same system yields a 3d standard deviation of 9 µm without the optimization of weight distribution.

The use of Digital Image Correlation has been generally limited to the estimation of mechanical properties and fracture behaviour at low to moderate strain rates. High speed cameras dedicated to ballistic testing are often used to measure the initial and residual velocities of the projectile but rarely for damage assessment. The evaluation of impact damage is frequently achieved post-impact using visual inspection, ultrasonic C-scan or other NDI methods. Ultra-high speed cameras and developments in image processing have made possible the measurement of surface deformations and stresses in real time during dynamic cracking. In this paper, a method is presented to correlate the force- displacement data from the sensors to the slow motion tracking of the transient failure cracks using real-time high speed imaging. Natural fibre reinforced composites made of flax fibres and polypropylene matrix was chosen for the study. The creation of macro-cracks during the impact results in the loss of stiffness and a corresponding drop in the force history. However, optical instrumentation shows that the initiation of damage is not always evident and so the assessment of damage requires the use of a local approach. Digital Image Correlation is used to study the strain history of the composite and to identify the initiation and progression of damage. The effect of fly-speckled texture on strain measurement by image correlation is also studied. The developed method can be used for the evaluation of impact damage for different composite materials.

Based on progress in the field of additive manufacturing optical components can now be printed with rapid prototyping technologies. In this contribution the possibilities of rapid prototyping for optical metrology are exemplified by the fabrication of miniaturized reflectors and the construction of a miniaturized metrology system designed for an industrial metrology application.

Focusing on the manufacturing and post processing steps the process chain to fabricate the miniaturized mirror is described. This includes an evaluation of the mirror based on roughness measurements. The reflectors are later utilized in a miniaturized sensor system to scan the interior of small pipes. The additively manufactured mirror is used in the metrology system to create a defined sampling signal within the cavity. Thereby the sensor system generates a point cloud of the internal surfaces using a 3D acquisition algorithm based on the laser triangulation principle. Part of this contribution will be the setup, the 3D acquisition and calibration principle as well as an evaluation of the metrology system. To optimize the point cloud acquisition three different hardware setups were designed using different cameras and calibration algorithms. These three approaches are evaluated and compared.

3D - Inline - Process - Control is getting more attention in any fields of manufacturing processes to increase productivity and quality. Sensor systems are necessary to capture the currently process status and are basement for Inline-Process- Control. The presented work is a possibility to get inline information’s about the additive manufacturing process Fused Filament Fabrication. The requirement is the ability to manipulate the machine code to get free field of view to the topside of the object after every manufactured layer. The adaptable platform layout makes possible to create different approaches for inline process control. One approach is the single camera layout from bird view to get 2,5D information’s about the manufactured object and the other one is the active stereoscopic camera layout with pattern projection. Both approaches are showing a possibility to get information’s of the manufactured object in process. Additional this cases allow a view inside the manufactured object and defects can be located. Deviations in the manufacturing process can be corrected and relevant parameters can be adapted during slicing process to increase the manufacturing quality.

In many application areas such as object reconstruction or quality assurance, it is required to completely or partly measure the shape of an object or at least the cross section of the required object region. For complex geometries, therefore, multiple views are needed to bypass undercuts respectively occlusions. Hence, a multi-sensor measuring system for complex geometries has to consist of multiple light-stripe sensors that are surrounding the measuring object in order to complete the measurements in a prescribed time. The number of sensors depends on the object geometry and dimensions. In order to create a uniform 3D data set from the data of individual sensors, a registration of each individual data set into a common global coordinate system has to be performed. Stateof- the-art registration methods for light-stripe sensors use only data from object intersection with the respective laser plane of each sensor. At the same time the assumption is met that all laser planes are coplanar and that there are corresponding points in two data sets. However, this assumption does not represent the real case, because it is nearly impossible to align multiple laser planes in the same plane. For this reason, sensor misalignments are neglected by this assumption. In this work a new registration method for light-stripe sensors is presented that considers sensor misalignments as well as intended sensor displacements and tiltings. The developed method combines 3D pose estimation and triangulated data to properly register the real sensor pose in 3D space.

Optical metrology using phase measurements has benefited significantly from the introduction of phase-shifting methods, first in interferometry, then also in fringe projection and fringe reflection. As opposed to interferometry, the latter two techniques generally use a spatiotemporal phase-shifting approach: A sequence of fringe patterns with varying spacing is used, and a phase map of each is generated by temporal phase shifting, to allow unique assignments of projector or screen pixels to camera pixels. One ubiquitous problem with phase-shifting structured-light techniques is that phase artefacts appear near regions of the image where the modulation amplitude of the projected or reflected fringes changes abruptly, e.g. near dirt/dust particles on the surface in deflectometry or bright-dark object colour transitions in fringe projection. Near the bright-dark boundaries, responses in the phase maps appear that are not plausible as actual surface features. The phenomenon has been known for a long time but is usually ignored because it does not compromise the overall reliability of results. In deflectometry, however, often the objective is to find and classify small defects, and of course it is then important to distinguish between bogus phase responses caused by fringe modulation changes, and actual surface defects. We present, for what we believe is the first time, an analytical derivation of the error terms, study the parameters influencing the phase artefacts (in particular the fringe period), and suggest some simple algorithms to minimise them.

We present a fringe projection system to measure glowing hot hybrid components in between production processes. For this a high power green light projector, based on TI DLP technology, is used to create the highest possible contrast between fringes on the red glowing specimen. It has a resolution of 1140 x 912 pixels with a maximum frame rate of 120 images per second for fast measurement. We use a green bandpass filter (525 nm) on the camera lens to block unwanted incoming radiation from the specimen caused by self-emission. Commercial measurement standards are not calibrated for temperatures other than 20° C, so they cannot be used to validate measurement data at the required temperatures of up to 1000°C since thermal expansion invalidates the geometry specification from the calibration data sheet. In our first development we use a uniformly heated pipe made of stainless steel as a dummy specimen to examine the measured geometry data. A pyrometer measures the temperature of the pipe so the expansion can be easily calculated using the thermal expansion coefficient. Different impact and triangulation angles are investigated to identify the effects of hot ambient air on the measurement. The impact of the induced refractive index gradient is examined to check the need for pre-processing steps in the measurement routine.

Recent digital technology allows binary patterns to be projected with a very high speed, which shows great potential for high-speed 3D measurement. However, how to retrieve an accurate phase with an even faster speed is still challenging. In this paper, an accurate and efficient phase retrieval technique is presented, which combines a Hilbert three-step phaseshifting algorithm with a ternary Gray code-based phase unwrapping method. The Hilbert three-step algorithm uses three squared binary patterns, which can calculate an accurate phase even under a slight defocusing level. The ternary Gray code-based method uses four binary patterns, which can unwrap a phase with a large number of fringe periods. Both simulations and experiments have validated its accuracy and efficiency.

In this paper we show that, by using a photogrammetry system with and without laser speckle, a large range of additive manufacturing (AM) parts with different geometries, materials and post-processing textures can be measured to high accuracy. AM test artefacts have been produced in three materials: polymer powder bed fusion (nylon-12), metal powder bed fusion (Ti-6Al-4V) and polymer material extrusion (ABS plastic). Each test artefact was then measured with the photogrammetry system in both normal and laser speckle projection modes and the resulting point clouds compared with the artefact CAD model. The results show that laser speckle projection can result in a reduction of the point cloud standard deviation from the CAD data of up to 101 μm. A complex relationship with surface texture, artefact geometry and the laser speckle projection is also observed and discussed.

Precise astronomical spectroscopy with the forthcoming E-ELT and its high resolution spectrograph HIRES will address a number of important science cases,1 e.g. detection of atmospheres of exoplanets. Challenging technical requirements have been identified to achieve these cases, principal among which is the goal to achieve a radial velocity precision on the order of 10 cms-1. HIRES will experience systematic errors like intrapixel variations and random variations like fiber noise, caused by the non-uniform illumination of the coupling fibers, with these and other systematic errors affecting the performance of the spectrograph. Here, we describe the requirements for the calibration sources which may be used for mitigating such systematic errors in HIRES. Precise wavelength calibration with wide-mode-spacing laser frequency combs (LFCs), so called astrocombs, has been demonstrated with different astronomical spectrographs. Here we present a comparison of currently used astrocombs and outline a possible solution to meet the requirements of HIRES with a single broadband astrocomb.

We present the design, architecture and results of the End-to-End simulator model of the high resolution spectrograph HIRES for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). This system can be used as a tool to characterize the spectrograph both by engineers and scientists. The model allows to simulate the behavior of photons starting from the scientific object (modeled bearing in mind the main science drivers) to the detector, considering also calibration light sources, and allowing to perform evaluation of the different parameters of the spectrograph design. In this paper, we will detail the architecture of the simulator and the computational model which are strongly characterized by modularity and flexibility that will be crucial in the next generation astronomical observation projects like E-ELT due to of the high complexity and long-time design and development. Finally, we present synthetic images obtained with the current version of the End-to-End simulator based on the E-ELT HIRES requirements (especially high radial velocity accuracy). Once ingested in the Data reduction Software (DRS), they will allow to verify that the instrument design can achieve the radial velocity accuracy needed by the HIRES science cases.

Reflectance anisotropy spectroscopy (RAS) allows for in-situ monitoring of reactive ion etching (RIE) of monocrystalline III-V semiconductor surfaces. Upon use of RAS the sample to be etched is illuminated with broad-band linearly polarized light under nearly normal incidence. Commonly the spectral range is between 1.5 and 5.5 eV. Typically the spectrally resolved difference in reflectivity for light of two orthogonal linear polarizations of light is measured with respect to time - for example for cubic lattices (like the zinc blende structures of most III-V semiconductors) polarizations along the [110] and the [-110] direction. Local anisotropies on the etch front cause elliptical polarization of the reflected light resulting in the RAS signal. The time and photon energy resolved spectra of RAS include reflectometric as well as interferometric information. Light with wavelengths well above 100 nm (even inside the material) can be successfully used to monitor surface abrasion with a resolution of some tens of nanometers. The layers being thinned out act as optical interferometers resulting in Fabry-Perot oscillations of the RAS-signal. Here we report on RAS measurements assessing the surface deconstruction during dry etching. For low etch rates our experimental data show even better resolution than that of the (slow) Fabry-Perot oscillations. For certain photon energies we detect monolayer-etch-related oscillations in the mean reflectivity, which give the best possible resolution in etch depth monitoring and control, i.e. the atomic scale.

Photoacoustic/photothermal spectroscopy is an established technique for detection of chemicals and explosives. However, prior sample preparation is required and the analysis is conducted in a sealed space with a high-sensitivity sensor coupled with a lock-in amplifier, limiting the technique to applications in a controllable laboratory environment. Hence, this technique may not be suitable for defense and security applications where the detection of explosives or hazardous chemicals is required in an open environment at a safe standoff distance. In this study, chemicals in various forms were excited by an intensity-modulated quantum cascade laser (QCL), while a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) was applied to detect the vibration signal resulting from the photocoustic/photothermal effect. The photo-vibrational spectrum obtained by scanning the QCL’s wavelength in MIR range, coincides well with the corresponding spectrum obtained using typical FTIR equipment. The experiment in short and long standoff distances demonstrated that the LDV is a capable sensor for chemical detection in an open environment.

Three-dimensional (3D) Dammann confocal microscopy is proposed based on introducing 3D Dammann gratings into traditional confocal microscopy. The conventional confocal microscopy usually has a single focal point. Using threedimensional Dammann gratings, it shows a new confocal microscopy which could obtain three-dimensional information of object, therefore, novel Dammann-based microscopy should be developed for practical applications.

Micro-electro-mechanical system's (MEMS) applications have greatly expanded over the recent years, and the MEMS industry has grown almost exponentially. One of the strongest drivers are the automotive and consumer markets. A 100% test is necessary especially in the production of automotive MEMS sensors since they are subject to safety relevant functions. This inspection should be carried out before dicing and packaging since more than 90% of the production costs are incurred during these steps. An electrical test is currently being carried out with each MEMS component. In the case of a malfunction, the defect can not be located on the wafer because the MEMS are no longer optically accessible due to the encapsulation. This paper presents a low coherence interferometer for the topography measurement of MEMS structures located within the wafer stack. Here, a high axial and lateral resolution is necessary to identify defects such as stuck or bent MEMS fingers. First, the boundary conditions for an optical inspection system will be discussed. The setup is then shown with some exemplary measurements.

Confocal microscopes are widely used for areal measurements thanks to its good height resolution and the capability to measure high local slopes. For the measurement of large areas while keeping few nm of system noise, it is needed to use high numerical aperture objectives, move the sample in the XY plane and stitch several fields together to cover the required surface. On cylindrical surfaces a rotational stage is used to measure fields along the round surface and stitch them in order to obtain a complete 3D measurement. The required amount of fields depends on the microscope’s magnification, as well as on the cylinder diameter. However, for small diameters, if the local shape reaches slopes not suitable for the objective under use, the active field of the camera has to be reduced, leading to an increase of the required number of fields to be measured and stitched. In this paper we show a new approach for areal measurements of cylindrical surfaces that uses a rotational stage in combination with a slit projection confocal arrangement and a highspeed camera. An unrolled confocal image of the cylinder surface is built by rotating the sample and calculating the confocal intensity in the centre of the slit using a gradient algorithm. A set of 360º confocal images can be obtained at different heights of the sample relative to the sensor and used to calculate an unrolled areal measure of the cylinder. This method has several advantages over the conventional one such as no stitching required, or reduced measurement time. In addition, the result shows less residual flatness error since the surface lies flat in the measurement direction in comparison to field measures where the highest slope regions will show field distortion and non-constant sampling. We have also studied the influence on the areal measurements of wobble and run-out introduced by the clamping mechanism and the rotational axis.

Optical profilers are mature instruments used in research and industry to study surface topography features. Although the corresponding standards are based on simple step height measurements, in practical applications these instruments are often used to study the fidelity of surface topography.

In this context it is well-known that in certain situations a surface profile obtained by an optical profiler will differ from the real profile. With respect to practical applications such deviations often occur in the vicinity of steep walls and in cases of high aspect ratio.

In this contribution we compare the transfer characteristics of different 3D optical profiler principles, namely white-light interferometry, focus sensing, and confocal microscopy. Experimental results demonstrate that the transfer characteristics do not only depend on the parameters of the optical measurement system (e. g. wavelength and coherence of light, numerical aperture, evaluated signal feature, polarization) but also on the properties of the measuring object such as step height, aspect ratio, material properties and homogeneity, rounding and steepness of the edges, surface roughness. As a result, typical artefacts such as batwings occur for certain parameter combinations, particularly at certain height-to-wavelength ratio (HWR) values. Understanding of the mechanisms behind these phenomena enables to reduce them by an appropriate parameter adaption. However, it is not only the edge artefacts, but also the position of an edge that may be changed due to the properties of the measuring object.

In order to investigate the relevant effects theoretically, several models are introduced. These are based on either an extension of Richards-Wolf modeling or rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA). Although these models explain the experimental effects quite well they suffer from different limitations, so that a quantitative correspondence of theoretical modeling and experimental results is hard to achieve.

Nevertheless, these models are used to study the characteristics of the measured signals occurring at edges of different step height compared to signals occurring at plateaus. Moreover, a special calibration sample with continuous step height variation was developed to reduce the impact of unknown sample properties. We analyzed the signals in both, the spatial and the spatial frequency domain, and found systematic signal changes that will be discussed. As a consequence, these simulations will help to interpret measurement results appropriately and to improve them by proper parameter settings and calibration and finally to increase the edge detection accuracy.

Spatial bandwidth limitations frequently introduce large biases into the estimated values of RMS roughness and autocorrelation length that are extracted from topography data on random rough surfaces. The biases can be particularly severe for focus-variation microscopy data because of the technique’s spatial bandwidth limitations (limited lateral resolution and field-of-view). We recently developed a measurement protocol that greatly reduces the bias due to limited resolution[1]. In the present paper, we describe an extension of the protocol to correct for limited field-of-view, and present measurements on a series of commercial surface roughness comparator samples to validate the protocol. The protocol strictly applies to the case of surfaces that are isotropic, and whose topography displays an autocovariance function that is exponential, with a single autocorrelation length. However, we find that applying the protocol yields extracted values of roughness and autocorrelation length for each surface that are accurate and consistent among datasets obtained at different magnifications (i.e. among datasets obtained with different spatial bandpass limits), even for samples that are not in any way selected to conform to the model’s assumptions.

Microscopic surface topography measurement is an important aspect of industrial inspection. Optical and near field scanning techniques are increasingly replacing the use of the traditional mechanical stylus since they provide better lateral resolutions and higher measurement speeds. The main far field optical techniques used are interference microscopy and confocal microscopy, with the advantages of having larger fields of view and higher measurement speeds. Interference microscopy is now widely used, mainly because of its nanometric axial measurement sensitivity and its ease of use but suffers from a limitation in lateral resolution of about /2 due to diffraction. A new technique for high resolution 2D imaging using a microsphere placed on the sample has been recently combined with interferometry by several groups to greatly improve the lateral resolution. In this paper we present some of our own first results using glass microspheres with a white light Linnik interferometer and demonstrate a lateral resolution of /4 and an axial measurement sensitivity of several nm. Results are shown on calibrated square profile gratings with periods down to 400 nm, with a minimum feature size of 200 nm and a height of 148 nm and a field of view of several μm. While these features are not visible directly with the microscope objective, they become observable and measurable through the microsphere. An analysis using rigorous electromagnetic simulations is also given to help better understand the imaging properties of the technique. These first experimental and simulation results clearly indicate that this is an important new technique that opens new possibilities for surface metrology with a lateral resolution well beyond the diffraction limit.

Calibration, adjustment and verification of surface topography measuring instruments are important tasks, often facilitated by precision step-height specimens that have been calibrated using traceable metrology such as interferometry. Although standardized procedures for calculating parameters of the step-height are available for line profiling contact stylus systems, there is inconsistent guidance as to how to interpret step height data for 3D, areal surface topography instruments, such as confocal and interference microscopes. Here we provide definitions for the reference and measurement areas of step-height specimens as well as practical measurement protocols for processing the surface topography map.

The white-light scanning interferometer (WLSI) and confocal microscope (CM) are the two major optical inspection systems for measuring three-dimensional (3D) surface profile (SP) of micro specimens. Nevertheless, in practical applications, WLSI is more suitable for measuring smooth and low-slope surfaces. On the other hand, CM is more suitable for measuring uneven-reflective and low-reflective surfaces. As for aspect of surface profiles to be measured, the characteristics of WLSI and CM are also different. WLSI is generally used in semiconductor industry while CM is more popular in printed circuit board industry. In this paper, a self-assembled multi-function optical system was integrated to perform Linnik white-light scanning interferometer (Linnik WLSI) and CM. A connecting part composed of tubes, lenses and interferometer was used to conjunct finite and infinite optical systems for Linnik WLSI and CM in the self-assembled optical system. By adopting the flexibility of tubes and lenses, switching to perform two different optical measurements can be easily achieved. Furthermore, based on the shape from focus method with energy of Laplacian filter, the CM was developed to enhance the on focal information of each pixel so that the CM can provide all-in-focus image for performing the 3D SP measurement and analysis simultaneously. As for Linnik WLSI, eleven-step phase shifting algorithm was used to analyze vertical scanning signals and determine the 3D SP.

Super-resolution photonic nanojet interferometry is a new modality for 3D label-free super-resolution imaging. We present a comparative study of the photonic nanojet interaction with a polymer sample. We use numerical modelling to understand the interaction between a microsphere-induced photonic nanojet and the polymer sample. The numerical model employs the same set of input parameters (melamine formaldehyde microsphere with a diameter of 11 μm and a refractive index of 1.68), as in our experiments. The interaction is described using the Finite-Difference Time-Domain method applied on a finely discretized mesh. The knowledge gained using the verified and validated model, will be used to conduct numerical simulations in a wider parameter space. This enables optimizing the design of 3D-interferometric super-resolution microscopes.

By means of an interferometric line sensor system, the form of a specimen can be measured by stitching several overlapping circular subapertures to form one 3D topography. This concept is very flexible and can be adapted to many different specimen geometries. The sensor is based on a Michelson interferometer configuration that consists of a rapidly oscillating reference mirror in combination with a high-speed line-scan camera. Due to the overlapping areas, movement errors of the scan axes can be corrected.

In order to automatically adjust the line sensor in such a way that it is perpendicular to the measurement surface at a fixed working distance, a white-light interferometer was included in the line-based form-measuring system. By means of a fast white-light scan, the optimum angle of the sensor (with respect to the surface of the specimen) is determined in advance, before scanning the specimen using the line-based sinusoidal phase shifting interferometer. This produces accurate measurement results and makes it possible to also measure non-rotational specimens.

In this paper, the setup of the line-based form-measuring system is introduced and the measurement strategy of the sensor adjustment using an additional white-light interferometer is presented. Furthermore, the traceability chain of the system and the main error influences are discussed. Examples of form measurement results are shown.

State of the art optical systems become more complex. There are more lenses required in the optical design and optical coatings have more layers. These complex designs are prone to induce more thermal stress into the optical system which causes birefringence. In addition, there is a certain degree of freedom required to meet optical specifications during the assembly process. The mechanical fixation of these degrees of freedom can also lead to mechanical stress in the optical system and therefore to birefringence. To be able to distinguish those two types of stress a method to image the birefringence in the optical system is required. In the proposed setup light is polarized by a circular polarization filter and then is transmitted through a rotatable linear retarder and the tested optical system. The light then is reflected on the same path by a mirror. After the light passes the circular polarization filter on the way back, the intensity is recorded. When the rotatable retarder is rotated, the recorded intensity is modulated depending on the birefringence of the tested optical system. This modulation can be analyzed in Fourier domain and the linear retardance angle between the slow and the fast axis as well as the angle of the fast axis can be calculated. The retardance distribution over the pupil of the optical system then can be analyzed using Zernike decomposition. From the Zernike decomposition, the origin of the birefringence can be identified. Since it is required to quantify small amounts of retardance well below 10nm, the birefringence of the measurement system must be characterized before the measurement and considered in the calculation of the resulting birefringence. Temperature change of the measurement system still can produce measurement artifacts in the calculated result, which must also be compensated for.

Over the last two decades the use of single-frame interferometric techniques, known as Dynamic Interferometry, has become widely available in commercial interferometer systems and they have been used extensively in the production of state-of-the-art space-based optical systems. This paper presents an overview of the techniques and configurations used to build dynamic interferometers and measurement results for a variety of space-based optical components as well as the structures that hold them under simulated space-flight conditions. These techniques and configurations have applicability for many non-space applications as well.

Optical glasses with certain inner quality e.g. low striae content are essential for good optical systems. A stria is a small local change in the refractive index inside the glass resulting in a wave front distortion that can cause blurring of the image. During the production process of optical glass, striae are observed by measuring it with the so-called shadow graph method. This simple measurement displays a stria as a shadow on an observation screen. A human operator evaluates the contrast by comparing it with references. The new proposed approach uses a digital camera and image processing to measure human independent the stria level. A first repeatability measurement shows wave front deviation (maximum deviation, peak-topeak) of less than +/- 8 nm.

The increased range of manufacturable freeform surfaces offered by the new fabrication techniques is giving opportunities to incorporate them in the optical systems. However, the success of these fabrication techniques depends on the capabilities of metrology procedures and a feedback mechanism to CNC machines for optimizing the manufacturing process. Therefore, a precise and in-situ metrology technique for freeform optics is in demand. Though all the techniques available for aspheres have been extended for the freeform surfaces by the researchers, but none of the techniques has yet been incorporated into the manufacturing machine for in-situ measurement. The most obvious reason is the complexity involved in the optical setups to be integrated in the manufacturing platforms. The Shack-Hartmann sensor offers the potential to be incorporated into the machine environment due to its vibration insensitivity, compactness and 3D shape measurement capability from slope data. In the present work, a measurement scheme is reported in which a scanning Shack-Hartmann Sensor has been employed and used as a metrology tool for measurement of freeform surface in reflection mode. Simulation studies are conducted for analyzing the stitching accuracy in presence of various misalignment errors. The proposed scheme is experimentally verified on a freeform surface of cubic phase profile.

The manufacture of mirrors for space application is expensive and the requirements on the optical performance increase over years. To achieve higher performance, larger mirrors are manufactured but the larger the mirror the higher the sensitivity to temperature variation and therefore the higher the degradation of optical performances. To avoid the use of an expensive thermal regulation, we need to develop tools able to predict how optics behaves with thermal constraints. This paper presents the comparison between experimental surface mirror deformation and theoretical results from a multiphysics model. The local displacements of the mirror surface have been measured with the use of electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI) and the deformation itself has been calculated by subtracting the rigid body motion. After validation of the mechanical model, experimental and numerical wave front errors are compared.

Speckle interferometry is an optical metrology technique for characterizing rough surfaces. In one application, the deformation of a specimen under a load may be determined by comparing measurements before and after the load is applied. Owing to the surface roughness, however, the results are impaired by phase singularities, leading to a strong noise in the measurement results. Usually, filtering and smoothing operations are performed to reduce the noise. However, these procedures also affect the underlying systematic phase and are therefore disadvantageous. Instead, we examine incoherent averaging, a physical procedure, to reduce the number of phase singularities in the first place. We tailor the spatial coherence of the light using extended light sources of continuous or multipoint shape, achieving smoother phase distributions. The mechanism behind the reduction process involves subtle effects like enhancing phase singularity correlations in the fields before and after the deformation takes place.

The analysis of materials and geometries in tensile tests and the extraction of mechanic parameters is an important field in solid mechanics. Especially the measurement of thickness changes is important to obtain accurate strain information of specimens under tensile loads. Current optical measurement methods comprising 3D digital image correlation enable thickness-change measurement only with nm-resolution. We present a phase-shifting electronic speckle-pattern interferometer in combination with speckle-correlation technique to measure the 3D deformation. The phase-shift for the interferometer is introduced by fast wavelength tuning of a visible diode laser by injection current. In a post-processing step, both measurements can be combined to reconstruct the 3D deformation. In this contribution, results of a 3Ddeformation measurement for a polymer membrane are presented. These measurements show sufficient resolution for the detection of 3D deformations of thin specimen in tensile test. In future work we address the thickness changes of thin specimen under tensile loads.

Surface micro topography measurement (e.g., form, waviness, roughness) is a precondition to assess the surface quality of technical components with regard to their applications. Well defined, standardized measuring devices measure and specify geometrical surface textures only under laboratory conditions. Laser speckle-based roughness measurement is a parametric optical scattered light measuring technique that overcomes this confinement. Field of view dimensions of some square millimeters and measuring frequencies in the kHz domain enable in-process roughness characterization of even moving part surfaces. However, camera exposure times of microseconds or less and a high detector pixel density mean less light energy per pixel due to the limited laser power. This affects the achievable measurement uncertainty according to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. The influence of fundamental, inevitable noise sources such as the laser shot noise and the detector noise is not quantified yet. Therefore, the uncertainty for speckle roughness measurements is analytically estimated. The result confirms the expected inverse proportionality of the measurement uncertainty to the square root of the illuminating light power and the direct proportionality to the detector readout noise, quantization noise and dark current noise, respectively. For the first time it is possible to quantify the achievable measurement uncertainty u(Sa) < 1 nm for the scattered light measuring system. The low uncertainty offers ideal preconditions for in-process roughness measurements in an industrial environment with an aspired resolution of 1 nm.

The deformation measurement method by using only two speckle patterns has been proposed in ESPI (electronic speckle pattern interferometry) by using Fourier transform. Furthermore, three-dimensional deformation of the object was able to be measured with the same sensitivities in each direction of three-dimensional axis. However, the measurement results of a complex shape deformation are not always a smooth distribution of phase map. It can be thought that this trouble is caused from the effect of speckle noise which is included in speckle pattern. In this paper, the solution of the problem concerning the speckle noise is investigated. The degradation of measurement accuracy in speckle interferometry is caused by some speckle noise. The speckle noise influences the bias component and the amplitude of the speckle pattern. Furthermore, the spatial movement of speckles of speckle-pattern during the deformation process also influences into the measurement accuracy. In this paper, the pre-treatment for the speckle interferometry is proposed in order to reduce such influence by speckle noise. In the experimental results, it is confirmed that the influence of speckle noise can be reduced by using the features of the reference and the object beams’ intensity distributions in interference measurement process. The proposed method can reduce the influence of speckle noise to 1/1000 in comparing with the results of conventional method. The validity of the proposed method in the practical operation is confirmed from the experiments.

The residual stress of the glass substrate might be one of causes to produce the non-uniform light distribution defect, i.e. Mura, in thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels. Glass is a birefringent material with very low birefringence. Furthermore, the thinner and thinner thickness request from the market makes the traditional photoelasticity almost impossible to measure the residual stresses produced in thin glass plates. Recently, a low-level stress measurement method called transmissivity extremities theory of photoelasticity (TEToP) was successfully developed to measure the residual stress in glass plate. Besides, to measure the stress of the glass plate in the TFT-LCD panel whose rear surface may has different kinds of coatings, an advanced reflection photoelasticity was also developed. In this paper, three commercially available glass plates with 0.33mm nominal thickness and three glass circular disks with different coatings were inspected to verify the feasibility of the TEToP and the advanced reflection photoelasticity, respectively.

The precision of measurements as well as the need for precise measurements are increasing more and more. Thus, the importance of a good calibration of a setup is increasing, too. In the world of topography measurement a huge variety of techniques are available. Some of these techniques are using known shadow patterns reflected by the device under test (DUT). The reflected patterns are recorded using a camera with imaging optics. From the changes of the patterns, the topography can be resolved. Other measurement techniques are using a tactile sensing head, which is in contact with the surface to determine its topography. However, these techniques need a reference surface to calibrate movements. If this reference surface presents deviations from its expected form, errors are introduced.
We have developed a calibration method for reflective surface measurements based on experimental ray tracing (ERT) without the need of a reference surface. In our measurement setup, a narrow laser beam introduced in the measurement under a certain angle is reflected by the device under test. After the reflection the position and the direction of the ray in terms of the coordinate system of the camera is detected. Thus, no errors are introduced by using an additional imaging optic. To calibrate position and direction of the incident ray in respect to the coordinate system of the camera, the reflected rays from the measurement are used only. From these rays, the incident ray is determined by detecting the line, all reflected rays are intersecting with. This leads to two major advantages. First, there is no calibration run needed, since the measurement data can be used directly for the calibration. Second, for the calibration no well-known reference surface is needed. However, some regulations have to be considered for a stable process of this calibration method. In terms of peak-to-valley values of the sag of the surface as well as of the change of the surface slope, the surface has to show values deviating from zero. If a surface like this is measured, a separate measurement run can be performed using another surface fulfilling these requirements. Since the DUT is scanned by moving the DUT itself, the position and the direction of the incident ray is not changed from one measurement to another and can be reused. We describe the newly introduced calibration method for the incident ray in detail and present the necessary boundary conditions. The calibration has been tested using simulations and has been implemented in a measurement setup. Within this measurement setup, the expected performance resulting from the simulations has been examined.