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The fabrication of aspheres and freeform surfaces requires a high-precision shape measurement of these elements. In terms of accuracy, interferometric systems provide the best performance for specular surfaces. To test aspherical lenses, it is necessary to adapt or partially adapt the test wavefront to the surface under test. Recently, we have proposed an interferometric setup with a diffractive zoom-lens that includes two computer generated holograms for this purpose.1 Their surface phases are a combination of a cubic function for the adaption of aberrations and correction terms necessary to compensate substrate-induced errors. With this system based on Alvarez design a variable defocus and astigmatism controlled by a lateral shift of the second element is achieved. One of the main challenges is the calibration of the system. We use a black-box model2 recently introduced for a non-null test interferometer, the so called tilted wave interferometer3 (TWI). With it, the calibration data are calculated by solving an inverse problem. The system is divided in the two parts of illumination and imaging optics. By the solution of an inverse problem, we get a set of data, which describes separately the wavefronts of the illumination and imaging optics. The main difference to the TWI is the flexible diffractive element, which can be used in continuous positions. To combine the calibration data of a couple of positions with the exact placement, we designed alignment structures on the hologram. We will show the general functionality of this calibration and first simulation results.

How accurately can you determine positions using a non-expensive imaging system? We demonstrate a system, that has the potential to achieve position detections over a large measurement field (200 x 200 mm) for one million times one million 2D positions. Non-expensive telecentric imaging of the large object field is achieved using a large diffractive front element in combination with two small off-the-shelf lenses. The position measurement itself is considerably improved using a simple replication technique: the point to be measured is replicated N-times and the centers of gravity of the N points are averaged. By this approach discretization errors and camera noise are reduced by the square root of the number of points. We describe the system, discuss the error model and show experimental results for the DOE-based telecentric imaging and the position detection sensing.

The measurement of aspheres and freeforms poses several challenges to interferometric and other optical testing methods which are well established for spherical surfaces. Accuracy, measurement time and flexibility are requirements encountered in a production environment. The approach of tilted-wave-interferometry is to illuminate the specimen with a whole ensemble of wavefronts. Each of these wavefronts has a different amount of tilt with respect to the optical axis. The surface under test is completely covered by interferogram patches where rays from one source hit the surface such that resolvable fringe densities result. Yet, one still deviates from the null setup which requires that the interferometer is calibrated precisely. This is obtained by recording interferograms of a known reference object placed in the test space. The aberrations of the interferometer are described within a black box model. A sophisticated set of algorithms is used to reconstruct these coefficients with high accuracy. The non-null configuration prohibits a direct evaluation of the measurement from the interferograms. Instead, the surface is reconstructed by the solution of an inverse problem. A second step gives access to the remaining high-frequency errors. The key ideas and implementations in the process of measurement and calibration are explained and the differences to other common concepts in optical testing are elaborated. As an example, results of a freeform measurement, including both form and high-frequent deviations from design, are discussed.

Diffractive optical elements offer a high degree of freedom for controlling phase and spectral behavior in optical designs. This enables new and compact optical sensors and measurement systems. We show several recent applications which bene t from unique properties of diffractive optical elements. The applications include: field aberration correction e.g. for microscopic projection applications through microscope objective lenses, a 200 channel microscope objective integrated optical addressing system, diffractive/refractive hybrid optics for high efficiency beam shaping and deflection angle enlargement of spatial light modulators.

In interferometric testing of surfaces a major task is to avoid the introduction of aberrations due to misalignment of the surface under test (SUT). An automated method for the positioning of aspheric and free-form surfaces in a non-null test interferometer, as well as a method for the distinction between alignment introduced aberrations and surface errors is presented. A combination of both methods allows for a fully automated alignment with low accuracy requirements concerning the positioning stage. In this work the method for the alignment as well as the alignment error correction is presented and the misalignment introduced measurement uncertainties are estimated. Simulation results as well as experimental results showing the feasibility of the method are presented.

Microoptical components play an increasing role in different technology fields such as medical engineering, materials and information processing, imaging and metrology. But their realization needs the combination of modern design concepts with sophisticated processing technologies, new materials and design tools. Furthermore, the introduction of ambitious processing technologies must be accompanied by effective metrology and inspection tools. Therefore, this paper reports about the technologies for making microoptics at ITO. Because sophisticated measurement tools are an indispensable part of the fabrication process, the paper describes our multi-scale inspection approach for the testing of microstructures on wafer-scale level. Finally, some representative applications of microoptical components for advanced measurement and imaging are explained.

The tilted-wave interferometer (TWI) was recently developed by the University of Stuttgart for the high-accuracy measurement of aspheres and freeform surfaces. The system works in a non-null measurement fashion and si­ multaneously uses several test beams with different tilts. Reconstruction of the specimen under test from TWI measurements is challenging and in order to correctly separate the real surface topography from systematic aberrations, the employed interferometer needs to be characterized. This characterization, as well as the recon­ struction of the specimen from TWI measurements, requires sophisticated data analysis procedures including ray tracing and the solution of an inverse problem. A simulation environment was developed at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in order to inves­ tigate the accuracy and stability of TWI systems, and to explore possibilities and limitations of this promising measurement technique. Virtual experiments were carried out to quantify the sensitivity of the results with respect to the assumed linearity in the reconstruction procedure, positioning errors, and measurement noise. Our first results suggest that the mathematical TWI reconstruction technique basically allows highly accurate measurements with uncertainties down to a few nanometers, provided that calibration errors of the optical sys­ tems are kept small. The stability of the results and their accuracy can, however, depend significantly on the particular surface of the specimen and on the choice of experimental settings.

The tilted wave interferometer is a non-null test interferometer for the measurement of aspheres and freeform surfaces without dedicated null-optics that uses an array of tilted waves to locally compensate the deviation of the surface from the spherical form. The concept allows for short measurement times of only a few minutes and high lateral resolutions at the same time. The calculation of the surface error is performed by perturbation of a polynomial representation of the surface. Since we are also interested in higher frequency errors of the surface which cannot be described by a polynomial of finite order these errors are evaluated in an additional step. Since every wavefront only covers a small area of the surface the challenge here is to reconstruct the surface from the information that is distributed over the different patches. We will present the method that was developed for the reconstruction of these high frequency errors as well as measurement results of aspheres and freeform surfaces without rotational symmetry that were obtained by this method.

We investigate the possibility to produce photochromic CGHs with maskless lithography methods. For this purpose, optical properties and requirements of photochromic materials will be shown. A diarylethene-based polyurethane is developed and characterized. The resolution limit and the in uence of the writing parameters on the produced patterns, namely speed rate and light power, have been determined. After the optimization of the writing process, gratings and Fresnel Zone Plates are produced on the photochromic layer and diraction eciencies are measured. Improvements and perspectives will be discussed.

Recent lithographic technologies allow for the fabrication of high period diffractive structures on planar and curved optical surfaces with high precision. Such diffractive surfaces offer the optical designer extra degrees of freedom, which are of special importance for optical systems, where light collection efficiency is important. We illustrate the usage and benefit of diffractive elements within fast optical systems in various applications. For these hybrid design classes it is mandatory to include the realistic as-built performance of the employed diffractive elements into the design phase. Correspondingly we present simulation techniques to include fabrication specific diffraction efficiencies and stray light into the optimization and evaluation process.

Rotary and linear position sensors are used in numerous manufacturing and automotive applications, where cost effectiveness and the ability of integration are major goals. To meet the increasing demand for competitive optical rotary encoders, in recent years a novel type of optical encoders have been proposed and demonstrated using a micro grating based encoding scheme. This proceeding will give details on the operation principle of this novel kind of position encoder and will show its performance on two exemplary implementations: A compact absolute rotary encoder with a micro-structured plastic disc, which can be manufactured in a conventional and cost effective DVD-molding process and a linear encoder which is based on a pseudo-random coding scheme. The implementation as well as results from their experimental characterization are presented.

Axicon surfaces are widely used in nowadays optical engineering, requiring accurate metrology for these highly aspheric surfaces. In this contribution, we present a complete approach to determine the shape deviation of axicons in an absolute manner. The setup is an interferometric null configuration using a computer generated hologram (CGH) as null optics. We demonstrate an absolute shifting method and the calibration issues connected with measuring the absolute cone angle. Experimental results are shown for the metrology of a 90° cone angle sample.

An automatic method for the positioning of a test surface in a non-null interferometer is presented. If the test surface is positioned incorrectly with respect to the test beam this leads to aberrations, which distort the measurement of the surface. A central issue in the interferometric characterization of surfaces is to avoid aberrations due to an incorrect placement of the test surface. In case of spherical and plane surfaces these errors can usually be distinguished from the surface figure errors and are eliminated in post processing. For aspheric and free-form surfaces this task is no longer trivial. Therefore it is important to minimize the alignment error of the surface. In this work the effect on the measured phase due to lateral and axial displacements of the aspheric surface is calculated and an adjustment method for the positioning of the surface at a predefined measurement location is presented. Experimental results showing the feasibility of the proposed procedure are presented.

Optical metrology has shown to be a versatile tool for the solution of many inspection problems. The main advantages of optical methods are the noncontact nature, the non-destructive and fieldwise working principle, the fast response, high sensitivity, resolution and accuracy. Consequently, optical principles are increasingly being considered in all steps of the evolution of modern products. However, the step out of the laboratory into the harsh environment of the factory floor was and is a big challenge for optical metrology. The advantages mentioned above must be paid often with strict requirements concerning the measurement conditions and the object under test. For instance, the request for interferometric precision in general needs an environment where high stability is guaranteed. If this cannot be satisfied to a great extent special measures have to be taken or compromises have to be accepted. But the rapid technological development of the components that are used for creating modern optical measurement systems, the unrestrained growth of the computing power and the implementation of new measurement and inspection strategies give cause for optimism and show that the high potential of optical metrology is far from being fully utilized. In this article current challenges to optical metrology are discussed and new technical improvements that help to overcome existing restrictions are treated. On example of selected applications the progress in bringing optical metrology to the real world is shown.

The established method to measure aspherical surfaces is interferometric testing with null optics, but due to economical reasons the applications are limited. A special null optic has to be calculated, fabricated and qualified for each individual type of asphere. This time- and money consuming method is only cost-efficient for large quantities or when tests require high accuracy. We propose a new and flexible technique for measuring an ensemble of different aspheres with only one measurement setup. The main idea is to use the wavelength as a tunable parameter. Because it is possible to change the wavelength without introducing new errors by mechanical movements, the wavelength variation results in a higher measurement flexibility without reducing the measurement accuracy. We present the chromatic Fizeau Interferometer with a diffractive element as null-optic for the measurement of a set of four aspheres. We will show the influence of unwanted diffraction orders and the expected measurement accuracy. As in the monochromatic setup, especially the area around the optical axis is problematic and can not be measured with the desired accuracy. The use of a small aperture stop on the optical axis is recommended because errors in other radial domains are filtered as well. The results show, that the chromatic Fizeau interferometer makes the established monochromatic method far more flexible and that different aspheres can be measured in the same setup.

One of the most challenging 3D metrology tasks in terms of required accuracy is the metrology of aspheric surfaces. Due to the required accuracies in the nanometer range, interferometry is one of the preferred methods. The reconstruction of the actual asphere shape from the measured phase data is presented for computer generated hologram approaches as well as for a new, flexible approach that was developed to avoid the use of null test configurations.

A new interferometric technique for the measurement of aspheric elements based on multiple test beams is presented. By means of an array of sources (Point Source Array) an aspheric surface is illuminated under different angles which allow the measurement of the zones where the local gradient of the test piece is compensated. One of the main advantages of the system is that the measurement process is performed in parallel (many sources are used at the same time) thus requiring extremely short measurement time in comparison with other available subaperture testing techniques. Another important aspect is that the asphere stays in the same position during the whole process; there are no mechanical movements of the test part involved. The technique allows the measurement of strong aspheric elements with departures from the best fit sphere up to ±10°. The method was developed to obtain accuracies of up to λ/30 and better. Simulations and first experimental results are presented.

Time-resolved observation of the fuel/air mixing process prior to ignition is crucial for the development of modern internal combustion engine concepts. The presented fiber optic sensor is designed for the acquisition of in-cylinder data in the area close to the ignition spark, based on UV-laser-induced fluorescence of organic fuel compounds. Excitation and fluorescence light are separately guided through silica fibers. The detection volume is defined by the optical design of the sensor head. Since the related components are completely integrated into a modified spark plug, the sensor can be applied to unmodified production line engines. We present the fundamental spectroscopic concept, the solution for the minimal invasive access through the spark plug and tracer spectra measured with a prototype.

In this paper, the realization and characterization of a microoptical sensor using the chromatic confocal principle is presented. The sensor head is designed for distance gauging applications in high aspect ratio cavities with a diameter of about 2 mm. The first part of this paper focuses on the design and fabrication process of the hybrid optical benches, which combines refractive and diffractive micro optical components. Very tight tolerances of the optical path are required for the functionality of the sensor. Therefore the alignment structures and mounts between the different optical elements are produced from PMMA using deep X-ray lithography, the first step of the LIGA process. In the second part of this paper the characterization of first prototypes using different light sources are described and results presented.

Increasing demands for the monitoring of tolerances of small mechanical and optical precision components require improved measurement techniques. In this paper the basic concept and different optical designs of a confocal microoptical distance-sensor are presented. The sensors use the chromatic-confocal measurement principle which does not require a mechanical depth scan. Therefore, a chromatic-confocal point sensor can be designed without any moving parts. This fact is used to design a miniaturized sensor head with an outer diameter smaller than two millimetres. A special feature of the sensor head is its capability to measure sideways. This enables e.g. to measure surfaces in small drilling holes.

A complete absolute interferometric test of aspheres is presented. The method is based on a specially designed computer-generated hologram (CGH), which reconstructs an aspherical wave as well as auxiliary waves. The auxiliary waves are used for calibration. The aberrations of the auxiliary waves are measured absolutely by means of established absolute testing methods. The errors of the auxiliary waves can be transferred to those of the aspheric wave. Methods for absolute testing of aspheric surfaces using multiplex CGHs are described. Test procedures are explained and equations are derived. For axially symmetric aspheres, experimental results are presented and a comparison with the established N-position rotation test is given.

The expansion of the field of diffractive optics applications is accompanied by toughening performance requirements for CGHs. Optical testing sets especially high requirements, concerning wavefront accuracy and diffraction efficiency. The key point in fabrication technology is the writing system creating the photomask or the profiled pattern. The diffractive optics fabrication facility at ITO (University of Stuttgart) is based on the circular laser writing system CLWS-300. This flexible and high-accurate tool was originally designed for binary diffractive optics fabrication. This paper presents novel enhancements of this system allowing direct laser writing of a wide range of binary and continuous-relief CGHs on photoresist layers, chromium films and LDW-glass. Main topics of the enhancements were the scanning accuracy and exposure control. Many types of CGHs (binary precision holograms for optical testing, Shack-Hartmann arrays, microlens discs for confocal microscopy, diffractive interferometer objectives, doughnut generators etc.) have been manufactured using the developed algorithms and hardware.

It has been shown that high precision diffractive objectives are an alternative to their refractive counterparts for application in interferometers. A design for an all-diffractive, double-sided objective that fulfills the Abbe sine condition has been proposed. It allows eliminating aberrations due to a finite field angle. Ray tracing simulations show that field angles up to 0.1 ° cause aberrations less than ?/20 PV in single pass. A single-sided prototype (diameter - 80 mm; NA. - 0.158; designed wavelength - 632.8 nm) has been fabricated by direct laser writing on photoresist. It was written on a polar coordinate laser system CLWS-300 that is capable of writing high precision DOEs up to a diameter of 300 mm. The blazed diffractive structures were written directly into a photoresist layer that was spinned on a high-precision substrate. Recalibration of the radial coordinate by reading marker positions on the substrate was used to eliminate machine drifts. The writing parameters were optimized by modelling the writing process in order to maximize the diffraction efficiency. The fabricated objective has a rms wavefront error of less than ?/2O in single pass. The residual errors are predictable using manufacturing data that is recorded during the writing process for each element. This permits to supply calibration data for each element. Measurements of the fabricated DOE show excellent agreement between the predicted and measured wavefront quality.

In the last years the application of gray-scale masks (GSM) for diffractive optics manufacturing attracts attention because of cost-effective possibility to produce a lot of diffractive elements on hard and heat-resistant thermally stable substrates. Direct laser writing of GSMs and fabrication of diffractive optical elements are effectively realized with application of LDW-glass (material for Laser Direct Write from CANYON MATERIALS, Inc). An important advantage of this material is the real-time change of transmittance in a single-step process without liquid development. It is shown that optimal transmittance range in which track width is not more than 1 micrometers is from 5-10% (transmittance of unexposed area) to 60-65% for LDW-glass type I having thinner colored layer. Power modulation and surroundings dependent peculiarities of direct laser writing on LDW-glass are discussed. Results of fabrication of diffractive optical elements using LDW-glass masks are presented. Among several types of LDW glasses studied the advantages of new GS-11 glass are elaborated. Application of GS-11 glass for GSMs allowed to fabricate blazed diffractive structures with backward slope width of 0.8 micrometers .

Aspheric surfaces are becoming interesting for the reduction of elements in optical systems as well as for improving the quality of the image forming system. The fabrication process of aspheric surfaces has been improved. For optical testing of aspheric surfaces computer generated holograms (CGHs) are interesting and already used. To perform aspheric testing in the same accuracy as spherical surface testing, further improvements of the CGH-null test method are required. A new concept for testing aspheric surfaces with CGH-nulls, including a calibration of the system, will be described. To specify and verify CGH quality, systematic errors due to fabrication inaccuracies of the CGHs will be analysed. On the other hand, alternative methods that provide more flexibility but possibly less accuracy than the CGH-null technique are required. Potential alternative testing methods of aspherics will be discussed.© (2001) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.