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The deflection of charged particles is an intuitive way to visualize an electromagnetic oscillation of coherent light. Here, we present a real-time ultrafast oscilloscope for time-frozen visualization of a terahertz (THz) optical wave by probing light-driven motion of relativistic electrons. We found the unique condition of subwavelength metal slit waveguide for preserving the distortion-free optical waveform during its propagation. Momentary stamping of the wave, transversely travelling inside a metal slit, on an ultrashort wide electron bunch enables the single-shot recording of an ultrafast optical waveform. As a proof-of-concept experiment, we successfully demonstrated to capture the entire field oscillation of a THz pulse with a sampling rate of 75.7 TS/s. Owing to the use of transversely-wide and longitudinally-short electron bunch and transversely travelling wave, the proposed “single-shot oscilloscope” will open up new avenue for developing the real-time petahertz (PHz) metrology., A travelling wave inside a metal slit can reveal its own waveform by probing deflecting motions of charged particles. Here, a real-time THz oscilloscope was demonstrated by utilizing the relativistic electrons and the subwavelength slit waveguide.

The use of high-speed cameras permits to visualize, analyze or study physical phenomena at both their time and spatial scales. Mixing high-speed imaging with coherent imaging allows recording and retrieving the optical path difference and this opens the way for investigating a broad variety of scientific challenges in biology, medicine, material science, physics and mechanics. At high frame rate, simultaneously obtaining suitable performance and level of accuracy is not straightforward. In the field of mechanics, this prevents high-speed imaging to be applied to full-field vibrometry. In this paper, we demonstrate a coherent imaging approach that can yield full-field structural vibration measurements with state-of-the-art performances in case of high spatial and temporal density measurements points of holographic measurement. The method is based on high-speed on-line digital holography and recording a short time sequence. Validation of the proposed approach is carried out by comparison with a scanning laser Doppler vibrometer and by realistic simulations. Several error criteria demonstrate measurement capability of yielding amplitude and phase of structural deformations.

A vision-based reconstruction method is conducted by the point-circle invariant and the planar laser. The planar laser is coplanar to the two-dimensional (2D) reference. The combination of a circle on the 2D reference, a point on the 2D reference and a random point on the laser stripe is considered as the invariant, which is impervious to the projection from the laser plane to the image. Therefore, the reconstruction model is achieved by the invariant, which is generated from the projections of the above geometric features. The experiments are performed to verify the performance and reconstruction error of the method. The minimum error is 0.473 mm for the camera-reference distance of 600 mm, the scaleplate-projector distance of 100 mm and the reference length of 30 mm. Besides, the maximum error is 4.960 mm, for the camera-reference distance of 900 mm, the scaleplate-projector distance of 400 mm and the reference length of 120 mm. The reconstruction error means of 0.891 mm, 1.365 mm, 2.578 mm and 3.767 mm are observed with respect to the test conditions of 600–900 mm, which proves the applicability of the reconstruction method with the point-circle invariant.

The high demand in effective and minimally invasive cancer treatments, namely thermal ablation, leads to the demand for real-time multi-dimensional thermometry to evaluate the treatment effectiveness, which can be also assisted by the use of nanoparticles. We report the results of 20-nm gold and magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles-assisted laser ablation on a porcine liver phantom. The experimental set-up consisting of high-scattering nanoparticle-doped fibers was operated by means of a scattering–level multiplexing arrangement and interrogated via optical backscattered reflectometry, together with a solid-state laser diode operating at 980 nm. The multiplexed 2-dimensional fiber arrangement based on nanoparticle-doped fibers allowed an accurate superficial thermal map detected in real-time.

[EN]We use self-calibrating dispersion scan to experimentally detect and quantify the presence of pulse train instabilities in ultrashort laser pulse trains. We numerically test our approach against two different types of pulse instability, namely second-order phase fluctuations and random phase instability, where the introduction of an adequate metric enables univocally quantifying the amount of instability. The approach is experimentally demonstrated with a supercontinuum fibre laser, where we observe and identify pulse train instabilities due to nonlinear propagation effects under anomalous dispersion conditions in the photonic crystal fibre used for spectral broadening. By replacing the latter with an all-normal dispersion fibre, we effectively correct the pulse train instability and increase the bandwidth of the generated coherent spectrum. This is further confirmed by temporal compression and measurement of the output pulses down to 15 fs using dispersion scan., The authors acknowledge funding from the Junta de Castilla y León (SA287P18) and FEDER funds; Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) (FIS2017-87970-R, EQC2018-004117-P, DI-15-07461, PTQ-15-07708); European EUREKA program CDTI-INNO-20171026; CCDR-N via the project Nanotechnology-based functional solutions (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000019); Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal (grants ‘UltraGraf’ M-ERA-NET2/0002/2016, M-ERA-NET2/0004/2016, UID/NAN/50024/2013, PTDC/FIS-OTI/32213/2017); Network of Extreme Conditions Laboratories - NECL and CCDR-N (NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000070, NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-022096); PT2020 (program 05/SI/2017 – SI I&DT Empresarial - DI, grant no. 33573; program 04/SI/2019 Projetos de I&D Industrial à Escala Europeia, grant no. 045932). BA acknowledges funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 798264.

Optical metrology is a key element for many areas of modern production. Preferably, measurements should take place within the production line (in-process) and keep pace with production speed, even if the parts have a complex geometry or are difficult to access. The challenge for modern optical in-process measurements is, therefore, how to simultaneously make optical metrology precise, fast, robust and capable of handling geometrical complexity. The potential of individual techniques to achieve these demands can be visualized by the tetrahedron of optical metrology. Depending on the application, techniques based on interferometry or geometrical optics may have to be preferred. The paper emphasizes complexity and robustness as prime areas of improvement. Concerning interferometric techniques, we report on fast acquisition as used in holography, tailoring of coherence properties and use of Multiple simultaneous Viewing direction holography (MultiView), self reference used in Computational Shear Interferometry (CoSI) and the simultaneous use of several light sources in Multiple Aperture Shear Interferometry (MArS) based on CoSI as these techniques have proven to be particularly effective. The use of advanced approaches based on CoSI requires a transition of the description of light from the use of the well-known wave field to the coherence function of light. Techniques based on geometric optics are generally comparatively robust against environmental disturbances, and Fringe Projection (FP) is shown to be especially useful in very demanding measurement conditions.

The computer generated hologram, or CGH, is the current de facto standard for accurate surface figure measurements of aspheres and freeforms. In this paper we will go over the history of the CGH technology development: from the birth of the holography to the invention of computer generated hologram; from early application of the CGH in testing aspheric surfaces to the development of precision fabrication techniques; from use of the CGH as null lens to more innovative applications testing and aligning optical systems. Dr. Wyant is a pioneer in the early development of the technology. His specific contributions will be introduced in detail. Efforts underway to expand the CGH use are also described.

Optical instruments have long played a role in manufacturing, and strong arguments favor accelerated adoption of fast, non-contact measurements of surfaces, shapes and positions as an enabler for industry 4.0. High-precision techniques such as optical interferometry have advanced considerably and have found applications ranging from semiconductor wafer lithography to automotive engine production. Even though there are clear benefits, there are obstacles to the more widespread adoption of optical techniques for dimensional measurements. Many of these obstacles are technical--such as vibration sensitivity and metrological traceability; but others reflect the cultural gaps between academia, makers of optical instruments, standards organizations and end users. In this talk, I propose that understanding these cultural differences can assist in advancing optical methods for the most critical needs of data-driven manufacturing.

3D micro-printing or direct laser writing is the method of choice for fabricating intricate three-dimensional micro- and nanostructures. Employing ultrafast lasers to drive non-linear absorption allows precise structuring of polymeric as well as metallic materials, enabling applications from bio-inspired research up to precise metrology. In this presentation I will give an overview over our current developments on direct metal printing and novel approaches towards structures employed in artificial gauge-field optics allowing to switch topological protection on and off. Additionally, applications in optical metrology will be discussed.

We proposed a method to study the effects of azimuth and the incident angle on the accuracy and stability of rotating polarizer analyzer ellipsometer (RPAE) with bulk Au. The dielectric function was obtained at various incident angles in a range of 55°–80° and analyzed with the spectrum of the principal angle. The initial orientations of rotating polarizing elements were deviated by a series of angles to act as the azimuthal errors in various modes. The spectroscopic measurements were performed in a wavelength range of 300–800 nm with an interval of 10 nm. The repeatedly-measured ellipsometric parameters and determined dielectric constants were recorded monochromatically at wavelengths of 350, 550, and 750 nm. The mean absolute relative error was employed to evaluate quantitatively the performance of instrument. Apart from the RPAE, the experimental error analysis implemented in this work is also applicable to other rotating element ellipsometers.

The developments in optical metrology and computer vision require more and more advanced camera models. Their geometric calibration is of essential importance. Usually, low-dimensional models are used, which however often have insufficient accuracy for the respective applications. A more sophisticated approach uses the generalized camera model. Here, each pixel is described individually by its geometric ray properties. Our efforts in this article strive to improve this model. Hence, we propose a new approach for calibration. Moreover, we show how the immense number of parameters can be efficiently calculated and how the measurement uncertainties of reference features can be effectively utilized. We demonstrate the benefits of our method through an extensive evaluation of different cameras, namely a standard webcam and a microlens-based light field camera.

Timescale comparison between optical atomic clocks over ground-to-space and terrestrial free-space laser links will have enormous benefits for fundamental and applied science, from measurements of fundamental constants and searches for dark matter, to geophysics and environmental monitoring. However, turbulence in the atmosphere creates phase noise on the laser signal, greatly degrading the precision of the measurements, and also induces scintillation and beam wander which cause periodic deep fades and loss of signal. We demonstrate phase stabilized optical frequency transfer over a 265 m horizontal point-to-point free-space link between optical terminals with active tip-tilt mirrors to suppress beam wander, in a compact, human-portable set-up. A phase stabilized 715 m underground optical fiber link between the two terminals is used to measure the performance of the free-space link. The active optics terminals enabled continuous, coherent transmission over periods of up to an hour. We achieve an 80 dB suppression of atmospheric phase noise to $3\times10^{-6}$ rad$^{2}$Hz$^{-1}$ at 1 Hz, and an ultimate fractional frequency stability of $1.6\times10^{-19}$ after 40 s of integration. At high frequency this performance is limited by the residual atmospheric noise after compensation and the frequency noise of the laser seen through the unequal delays of the free space and fiber links. Our long term stability is limited by the thermal shielding of the phase stabilization system. We achieve residual instabilities below those of the best optical atomic clocks, ensuring clock-limited frequency comparison over turbulent free-space links., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. In appendix: 4 pages, 2 figures

Quality assurance in manufacturing engineering requires precise methods in order to implement quantitative techniques for processes control. Optical methods have proved to be suitable in manufacturing since they present several advantages over traditional approaches such as non-destructive, non-contact, and high speed, among others. For example, laser technologies provide a fundamental tool in optical metrology, and fiber optics offers versatility for multiparameter measurements. Optical methods offer improved technology for quality control monitoring in areas such as materials, pharmaceutical, and chemical.

Recently, there has been growing interest in the miniaturization and integration of atomic-based quantum technologies. In addition to the obvious advantages brought by such integration in facilitating mass production, reducing the footprint, and reducing the cost, the flexibility offered by on-chip integration enables the development of new concepts and capabilities. In particular, recent advanced techniques based on computer-assisted optimization algorithms enable the development of newly engineered photonic structures with unconventional functionalities. Taking this concept further, we hereby demonstrate the design, fabrication, and experimental characterization of an integrated nanophotonic-atomic chip magnetometer based on alkali vapor with a micrometer-scale spatial resolution and a magnetic sensitivity of 700 pT/√Hz. The presented platform paves the way for future applications using integrated photonic–atomic chips, including high-spatial-resolution magnetometry, near-field vectorial imaging, magnetically induced switching, and optical isolation.

To fully exploit the advantages of fourth-generation synchrotron light sources, diffraction-limited-storage-rings (DLSR) and fully coherent free electron lasers (FELs), beamline mirrors and diffraction grating must be of exceptional quality. To achieve the required mirror and grating quality, the metrology instrumentation and methods used to characterize these challenging optics and, even more so, optical assemblies must also offer exceptional functionality and performance. One of the most widely used slope measuring instruments for characterizing x-ray optics is the long trace profiler (LTP). The easily reconfigurable mechanical design of the LTP allows optimization of the profiler arrangement to the specifics of a particular metrology task. Here, we discuss the optical schematic, design, and performance of an original multifunctional light beam source that provides functional flexibility of the LTP optical sensor. With this source, the LTP can be easily reconfigured for measurements of x-ray mirrors or diffraction gratings that have widely different source coherence requirements. Usage of a source with a low degree of coherence for mirror metrology helps to suppress the LTP systematic errors due to spurious interference effects in the LTP optical elements. A high-coherence narrow-band source is used for groove-density-distribution characterization of x-ray diffraction gratings. The systematic error and spatial resolution of the LTP with the different sources is also measured and analyzed.

The developed concept represents a universally applicable clamping system designed to fit in any measuring machine with any measuring principle. The design ensures that, as long as the lens remains clamped, the measurement results are reproducible. Form errors due to tension remain constant across all measuring and processing steps. The version presented in this paper was developed especially for small lenses in the diameter range up to 40 mm. On the one hand, the design allows for fast measurement of loose lenses. On the other hand, the device can also be used for measurement comparisons, since lenses can also be mounted permanently. In the following, the concept and first results of measurement tests are presented.

Precision measurements enabled by exquisitely stable optical sources had a profound impact on the optical metrology enterprise. What is perhaps lesser known is that similar optical tools enable ultra-stable microwave sources and measurement techniques. Here, we will discuss the opportunities and challenges of laser-driven low-noise microwave generation in the presence of quantum and technical noise in laser, detection and characterization systems.

Calibration, performance verification and error correction of two dimensional (2D) optical metrology instruments, such as profile projectors, microscopes and “vision” systems are commonly carried out with the aid of calibrated 2D high-precision optical grid plates. This paper presents a high resolution 2D measurement instrument that has been developed for calibrating such grid-plates up to 300 mm × 200 mm in size and providing sub-micrometre measurement uncertainties. This instrument was specifically designed by the laboratory to ensure their calibration capabilities aligned with both the customers’ technical requirements along with their budgets and expectations too.

As light propagates along a waveguide, a fraction of the field can be reflected by Rayleigh scatterers. In high-quality-factor whispering-gallery-mode microresonators, this intrinsic backscattering is primarily caused by either surface or bulk material imperfections. For several types of microresonator-based experiments and applications, minimal backscattering in the cavity is of critical importance, and thus, the ability to suppress backscattering is essential. We demonstrate that the introduction of an additional scatterer into the near field of a high-quality-factor microresonator can coherently suppress the amount of backscattering in the microresonator by more than 30 dB. The method relies on controlling the scatterer position such that the intrinsic and scatterer-induced backpropagating fields destructively interfere. This technique is useful in microresonator applications where backscattering is currently limiting the performance of devices, such as ring-laser gyroscopes and dual frequency combs, which both suffer from injection locking. Moreover, these findings are of interest for integrated photonic circuits in which back reflections could negatively impact the stability of laser sources or other components., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 2 supplemental pages

Light polarization, which is the direction of electromagnetic field oscillation, provides information that is highly different from that of spectral and intensity images and thus can enhance various fields of optical metrology. Polarization imaging can be also used by combining polarization and imaging, thereby providing polarization and spatial information. In university physics teaching, light polarization is limited to the understanding of the polarization state of a single beam and polarization imaging is rarely involved. Here we use the camera of a smartphone, a polarizer, and 3D printing components to create a simplified imaging polarimeter, thus showing the characteristics of polarization imaging and its application.

A full-field chromatic confocal microscopy (CCM) using a multispectral sensor was developed for quasi-one-shot microscopic 3D surface measurement. An innovative optical configuration employs a digital micromirror device (DMD) and a multispectral sensor is used to realize CCM with full-field area scanning. In the optical design, an area-scan type chromatic dispersive objective is specially designed to achieve measuring specification. Based on a self-developed chromatic dispersive objective, the FOV for one shot measurement can be reached to 1.8×1.3 mm2 which is immersive to microscopic profilometry. The spectral image captured by the multispectral sensor at each pinhole position has a unique spectrum pattern corresponding to its conjugate measured depth. A normalized cross-correlation (NCC) algorithm is developed to establish a spectrum-depth response curve with its corresponding spectrum pattern sets for accurate reconstruction of the tested 3D surface profile. With real test on standard targets, the measurement repeatability for a single surface depth is less than 0.6 μm.

The food and beverage metal packaging industry produces millions of units daily. A key to controlling a highly complex manufacturing process is to conduct offline dimensional measurement of sampled products. In this paper, a methodology to verify the performance and validate the traceability of a non-contact measurement system, is demonstrated. A single-point laser triangulation sensor (laser) is used as part of a setup to measure the height of a finished can. The measured heights are compared on a contour measuring instrument to enhance the confidence of the results. An experiment, conducted in laboratory conditions, concluded that measuring a specific can height with the laser produced a systematic error which is within acceptable parameters.

The self-mixing interference (SMI) effect with multiway feedback is analyzed in this paper. The basic theory of SMI with multiway feedback external cavity (MFEC) can be derived from the theory of interference as well as the theory of laser self-mixing interference (LSMI). Based on the external cavity structure with MFEC, a SMI model with two feedback external cavity structure is proposed. The expressions of the phase and output power in the MFEC are deduced and some simulation analyses are made. It is found that the output signal of the SMI system with two external cavity is sinusoidal or sawtooth waves, which is similar to the signal of SMI with a low frequency sinusoidal phase modulation. The density of interference signal fringes is uneven in one period and the shape of the interference wave is determined by the intensity of the external feedback. Furthermore, a SMI with two feedback external cavity experiment system is considered, and the experiment verifies the simulations.

Laser was presented to science and industry in the 1960s and shortly became a useful tool in many areas, with applications based on its multiple characteristics such as coherence of light, which presents a phenomenon known as interference pattern, or speckle, when beam returns from an illuminated surface. Despite great application of speckle pattern, its residual presence, for example, in interferometric approaches was considered as a noise, demanding filtering. However, grains themselves became information as their dynamic changes in time started to be linked to biological sample activity. Dynamic laser speckle has been since then a phenomenon widely used to monitor biological activities in many areas from agriculture to medicine. It is known as biospeckle laser (BSL) when adopted in biological material, with high sensitivity to follow very tiny movements in biological tissues, linked to changes in speckle provided by scatterer activities inside and outside cells. Since the 1970s, biospeckle laser usage follows a crescent technologic spiral where technological developments opened room for new applications, while new demands regarding biological monitoring forced the development of new methodologies. Therefore, potential adoption of the phenomenon as a sensor, for instance, in agricultural and medical processes, as well as constant offer of new devices provided new turns in the BSL technologic spiral and opened room for technique improvement. In this study, I present a short history of biospeckle laser (BSL) with applications and development associated with challenges regarding its usage in portable and accessible devices or even in commercial equipment. And the history was packed in a temporal diagram identifying the breakpoints responsible for improvements in the use of the technique. RESUMO O laser foi apresentado à ciência e à indústria em 1960, e rapidamente tornou-se uma ferramenta útil à muitas áreas do conhecimento, que fazem uso de suas múltiplas características, como é o caso da coerência da luz, que é responsável pelo fenômeno conhecido como padrão de interferência, ou speckle; este padrão de interferência ocorre quando a luz retorna do material iluminado formando uma figura de interferência para o observador. Apesar da grande aplicação, a presença residual do padrão de speckle em abordagens interferométricas apresentava-se como um ruído que demanda filtragem. Apesar da dificuldade em alguns casos, os grãos de speckle tornaram-se fonte de informação em situações dinâmicas, quando suas mudanças começaram a ser relacionadas à atividade do material biológico iluminado. Speckle laser dinâmico tornou-se o termo usado para denominar o fenômeno que passou a ser usado para monitorar a atividade biológica e não biológica em aplicações desde a agricultura até aquelas relacionadas à medicina. Este fenômeno também é conhecido como biospeckle laser (BSL), quando aplicado em material biológico, e com grande sensibilidade para seguir os menores movimentos intra e intercelulares dos dispersores de luz presentes no tecido biológico. A partir da década de 1970, o biospeckle laser teve sua utilização baseada em uma espiral crescente e ligada ao desenvolvimento tecnológico que favoreceu novas aplicações acompanhadas de novas metodologias de análise. Portanto, a adoção do fenômeno como um sensor, por exemplo, na agricultura e na medicina fomenta sempre uma constante oferta de novos dispositivos e novos métodos favorecendo o uso em novas áreas do conhecimento. Esta revisão apresenta uma resumida história do biospeckle laser (BSL) pontuando as aplicações e desenvolvimentos além dos desafios, como é o caso do uso de forma portátil e por equipamentos comerciais. E esta história foi resumida em um diagrama identificando os chamados pontos do corte com contribuições que mudaram a forma de uso da técnica.

It is well known that when a laser is reflected from a rough surface or transmitted through a diffusive medium, a speckle pattern will be formed at a given observation plane. Speckle is commonly produced by laser beams with a homogeneous intensity, for which, well-known relations have been derived, relating the speckle size to the area of illumination. Here we investigate the speckle generated by higher-order Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) modes, characterized by a non-uniform intensity distribution of concentric rings.We show that the ring-structure of the LG modes does not play any role in the speckle size, which happens to be the same as that obtained for a homogeneous intensity distribution. This allow us to provide with a simple expression that relates the speckle size to the spot size of the LG modes. Our findings will be of great relevance in many speckle-based applications., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures

Tuneable ultrafast laser pulses are a powerful tool for measuring difficult-to-access degrees of freedom in materials science. In general these experiments require the ability to address resonances and excitations both above and below the bandgap of materials, and to probe their response at the timescale of the fastest non-trivial internal dynamics. This drives the need for ultrafast sources capable of delivering 10–15 fs duration pulses tuneable across the entire visible (VIS) and near infrared (NIR) range, 500– 3000 nm, as well as the characterization of these sources. Here we present a single frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG) system capable of self-referenced characterization of pulses with 10 fs duration across the entire VIS-NIR spectral range. Our system does not require auxiliary beams and only minor reconfiguration for different wavelengths. We demonstrate the system with measurements of pulses across the entire tuning range.

Optical metrology and high-resolution spectroscopy, despite impressive progress across diverse regions of the electromagnetic spectrum from ultraviolet to terahertz frequencies, are still severely limited in the region of vibrational bending modes from 13 to 20 µm. This long-wavelength part of the mid-infrared range remains largely unexplored due to the lack of tunable single-mode lasers. Here, we demonstrate bending modes frequency metrology in this region by employing a continuous-wave nonlinear laser source with tunability from 12.1 to 14.8 µm, optical power up to 110 µW, MHz-level linewidth and comb calibration. We assess several CO2-based frequency benchmarks with uncertainties down to 30 kHz and we provide an extensive study of the v11 band of benzene, a significant testbed for the resolution of the spectrometer. These achievements pave the way for long-wavelength infrared metrology, rotationally-resolved studies and astronomic observations of large molecules such as aromatic hydrocarbons. The lack of widely tunable single-mode lasers in the long-wavelength part of the mid-infrared region has hindered optical metrology of bending vibrational modes. Here, a continuous-wave nonlinear laser source with tunability from 12.1 to 14.8 μm, coupled with a frequency comb, is used to measure bending modes frequencies of carbon dioxide and benzene with accuracy down to 30 kHz.

Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans), a major cariogenic bacterium, has exhibited esterase activities, and has been shown to degrade dental resin composites and adhesives contributing to the risk of developing secondary caries and failed restorations. Changes to the surface morphology of the resin materials have been observed through SEMs; however, they were not quantified. In the current study, we present the development of a laser diffractometer whereby we can apply it to determining quantitatively the surface roughness spectrum of a dental material due to bacteria biodegradation.

The productivity rate of a manufacturing process is limited by the speed of any measurement processes at the quality control stage. Fast and effective in-line measurements are required to overcome this limitation. Optical instruments are the most promising methods for in-line measurement because they are faster than tactile measurements, able to collect high-density data, can be highly flexible to access complex features and are free from the risk of surface damage. In this paper, a methodology for the development of fast and effective in-line optical measuring instruments for the surfaces of parts with millimetre- to micrometre-size is presented and its implementation demonstrated on an industrial case study in additive manufacturing. Definitions related to in-line measurement and barriers to implementing in-line optical measuring instruments are discussed.

Depending on its stage skin cancer can be diagnosed through the so called ABCDE rule, which is mainly qualitative and noninvasive; besides this, there exists a technique that uses a dermatoscope to analyze the damaged area considered as noninvasive. On the other hand, the invasive methods mainly use sample-biopsies extracted from the affected area which are usually analyzed with a microscope or other imaging techniques. Digital holographic interferometry (DHI) has shown to be a powerful technique to obtain 3D information of a sample, and in these times, as many other optical metrology techniques, it has been widely applied to study biologic samples. In this research work, we present some initial 3D morphology measurements of melanoma cells made with a DHI setup implemented in a microscope type arrangement so a magnified image of the sample is studied. The morphology data depict the actual 3D contour map of the cell nucleus and represents a further advancement in the application of DHI to accurately study and measure the structure of cells.

This work describes a method for an experimental determination of a paraxial back focus position and a paraxial focal length of optical systems. It is analyzed an influence of spherical aberration on the value of the measured effective focal length of an optical system and the method is proposed for an elimination of this influence and the determination of the paraxial back focus position and the paraxial focal length of a lens from its effective focal length and the Strehl definition measurements.

The deposition of an indium oxide (In2O3) thin film on conventional planar waveguides (a coverslip and a glass slide) allows generating lossy mode resonances (LMR) by lateral incidence of light on the waveguide and by registering the optical spectrum in a spectrometer. This novel sensing system becomes an alternative to optical fibre, the substrate where LMR-based sensors have been developed so far, since it is easier to handle and more robust. An additional advantage is that cost effective waveguides, such as slides or coverslips, can be used in a platform that resembles surface plasmon resonance-based sensors in the Kretschmann configuration but without the need for a coupling prism and with the advantage of being able to generate TE and TM LMR resonances with metallic oxide or polymer thin films. The results are corroborated with simulations, which provide in-depth understanding of the phenomena involved in the sensing system. As a proof-of-concept for the optical platform, two refractometers were developed, one with low sensitivity and for a wide range of refractive indices, and the other with higher sensitivity but for a narrower refractive index range. The sensors presented here open up the path for the development of LMR-based chemical sensors, environmental sensors, biosensors, or even the generation of other optical phenomena with the deposition of multilayer structures, gratings or nanostructures, which is much easier in a planar waveguide than in an optical fibre. The authors would like to acknowledge the partial support to the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness TEC2016-78047-R and TEC2016-79367-C2-2-R research funds, the pre-doctoral research grant and the Government of Navarre 2018/PC021-022 OPTISENS research funds.

The extreme resolution provided by laser interferometers can be exploited for improving the measurement of Earth’s gravity field from space. Here we describe the concept of a Next Generation Gravity Mission based on this optical metrology and some of the ongoing developments on the key technologies, carried out in preparation of an operational mission.

The PROBA-3 is a European Space Agency (ESA) mission devoted to obtain, as never before, highly accurate formation flying. A couple of satellites will works together as an externally occulted solar coronagraph. The distance between the two satellites is of 144 meters and the required longitudinal accuracy of the relative positioning is better than 1 mm. In this proceeding the in-flight calibration of one of the most accurate metrology subsystem, the SPS (Shadow Position Sensors), will be presented.

International audience; This paper aims at describing recent advances in coherent imaging based on digital holography; especially we will focus on the use of such an approach to investigate traveling acoustic waves in mechanical structures and to study mechanical properties of bio-materials.

Digital Image Correlation (DIC) measures full-field strains by tracking displacements of a specimen using images taken before and after deformation. At high temperatures, materials emit light in the form of blackbody radiation, which can interfere with DIC images. To screen out that light, DIC has been recently adapted by using ultraviolet (UV) range cameras, lenses, and filters. Before now, UV-DIC had been demonstrated at the centimeter scale using commercially available UV lenses and filters. Commercial high-magnification lenses using visible light have also been used for DIC. However, there is currently no commercially available high-magnification lens that will allow images to be taken (a) in the UV range, (b) at a submillimeter scale, and (c) from a relatively long working distance separating a specimen inside a test chamber and a camera outside the chamber. In this work, a custom UV high-magnification lens is demonstrated to perform high-magnification, high-temperature DIC measurements. To demonstrate the capabilities of this lens, a series of thermo-mechanical tests was run on a stainless-steel ring specimen. Two UV cameras performed simultaneous measurements: one at lower magnification using a commercial UV lens, and one with the custom high-magnification UV lens. At room temperature, the custom lens produces sufficiently bright images to perform DIC, while at high temperature (demonstrated to 900 °C) the images retained sufficient contrast while avoiding oversaturation. The lens can detect submillimeter rigid motion and tensile strains from long working distances and high magnification. These tests show that the custom lens is suitable for use in high-magnification UV-DIC measurements.

Microscopes and various forms of interferometers have been used for decades in optical metrology of objects that are typically larger than the wavelength of light λ. Metrology of sub-wavelength objects, however, was deemed impossible due to the diffraction limit. We report the measurement of the physical size of sub-wavelength objects with deeply sub-wavelength accuracy by analyzing the diffraction pattern of coherent light scattered by the objects with deep learning enabled analysis. With a 633 nm laser, we show that the width of sub-wavelength slits in an opaque screen can be measured with an accuracy of ∼λ/130 for a single-shot measurement or ∼λ/260 (i.e., 2.4 nm) when combining measurements of diffraction patterns at different distances from the object, thus challenging the accuracy of scanning electron microscopy and ion beam lithography. In numerical experiments, we show that the technique could reach an accuracy beyond λ/1000. It is suitable for high-rate non-contact measurements of nanometric sizes of randomly positioned objects in smart manufacturing applications with integrated metrology and processing tools. Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) Ministry of Education (MOE) Published version The authors acknowledge the Singapore Ministry of Education (Grant No. MOE2016-T3-1-006); the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A∗ STAR), Singapore (Grant No. SERC A1685b0005); and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council UK (Grants No. EP/N00762X/1 and No. EP/M0091221), and the European Research Council (Advanced grant FLEET786851). T.P. acknowledges support from the China Scholarship Council (CSC No. 201804910540).

The combination of black silicon to improve the light absorption and negatively charged alumina to form an induced collecting junction characterizes a photodiode with external quantum efficiency above 96% between 250 nm and 950 nm.

The measurement of aspheres today is often done using computer generated holograms with interferometry. We show that this method holds some significant systematic errors caused by imperfect adjustment of the optical components. This gives rise to the question if a measurement is possible without utilization of computer generated holograms. Therefore we propose a new elliptical setup using a laser interferometer and a set of scanning mirrors. Our work shows that this setup is capable of form measurement for individual aspheres but still poses some adjustment challenges.

We present a digital autocollimator which will be used in the alignment system of a prototype medium-sized telescope, which is part of the U.S. contribution to the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). The Schwarzschild-Couder optics in the prototype telescope (which is currently under construction) requires the precise alignment of three components: the primary and secondary segmented mirrors, and the gamma-ray camera. The approximately 9 meter separation between the mirrors necessitates remote optical measurement. Our autocollimator will measure the angle of a segment in one mirror relative to the center of the other mirror with a precision better than 5 arcsec over a range of ±0.126°. We present a detailed description of the instrument and describe its performance in the laboratory.

We demonstrate a laser-based displacement measurement using an intensity modulator as a simple and wide-band intensity correlator. The proposed method applies intensity modulation not only to the output probe beam but also to the reflected beam from a target, where the fundamental frequency of modulation signal is the same for both, but the phase of modulation signal for the reflected beam is also modulated. The displacement is measured using harmonic signals from a photodetector. The principle is verified for 40 mm and 16 m ranges of displacement measurement, where the relative measurement uncertainty of 1.8 × 10 − 6 is achieved.

Freeform optical elements are state of the art for several years to fabricate very high performance optical systems with the necessity of, e.g., strong folding in mirror system or correction of typical asymmetric aberrations in mirror systems as well as lens systems. For freeform mirror systems, in particular for metal mirrors, the metrology is well understood and iterative process chains are well established. For transmission elements with a freeform surface on both sides, manufacturing, metrology, and correction for both sides in a parallel manner is quite difficult. The article presents a method to measure such an optical element and correct it with a well-defined correction step to have both sides in a well-defined position to each other.

In this work, we present the results of the opto&ndash, electro&ndash, mechanical characterization of tunable micro-lenses, Tlens&reg, performed with a single-spot optical measuring system. Tested devices are composed of a transparent soft polymer layer that is deposited on a supporting glass substrate and is covered by a glass membrane with a thin-film piezoelectric actuator on top. Near-infrared optical low-coherence reflectometry is exploited for both static and low-frequency dynamic analyses in the time domain. Optical thickness of the layers and of the overall structure, actuation efficiency, and hysteretic behavior of the piezo-actuator as a function of driving voltage are obtained by processing the back-reflected signal in different ways. The use of optical sources with relatively short coherence lengths allows performing interferometric measurements without spurious resonance effects due to multiple parallel interfaces, furthermore, selecting the plane/layer to be monitored. We finally report results of direct measurements of Tlens&reg, optical power as a function of driving voltage, performed by redirecting a He-Ne laser beam on the lens and monitoring the focused spot at various distances with a digital camera.

There is a long history of non-contact profilometry of mirrors performed using an autocollimator. An autocollimator is scanned over a mirror resulting in a set of local slope measurements that are then integrated to produce a measurement of the mirror profile. Such profilometers are often associated with the testing of x-ray optics. In this application a small beam is usually created by placing an aperture near the mirror under test. The W2-AM uses a reticle with a circular target. The noise, sensitivity and error characteristics of the W2-AM instrument is assessed relative to the needs of profilometry of x-ray optics.

Camera calibration is fundamental for camera based measurement processes. While photogrammetric calibration models are widely established, the more sophisticated approach, describing an independent ray for every pixel, still requires thorough investigation to achieve its full potential. Such a Generic-Camera-Calibration or so called Vision-Ray-Calibration (VRC) compensates the effects of lens distortions more precisely than other techniques and can calibrate various lenses. Our current efforts are to improve calibration algorithms for VRC and find geometrically optimal calibration procedures. As a step towards this goal we present a metric to compare calibration results and therefore the necessary procedure to ensure that the coordinate systems of the calibrations are similar. With this new metric it is easier to investigate VRC procedures.

In the present work we present a novel approach of the null-screen test for testing a Parabolic Trough Solar Collector (PTSC) that involves the usage of custom designed dynamic patterns projected on a LCD display, in a new off-axis disposition that allows for more consistent retrieval of information as well as the ability to extract larger amounts of data in each test. We present images depicting an ongoing test that show clearly the advantages of this method compared to earlier versions of the null-screen test for the same collector.

Freeform optical shapes or optical surfaces that are designed with non-symmetric features are gaining popularity with lens designers and optical system integrators. Manufacturing and testing details will be discussed for freeforms as well as current manufacturing tolerancing limits. This paper will address challenges that have been encountered in the manufacturing, testing, and handling of freeforms as their size expands up to and beyond 500 mm, and provide future work that will address each challenge.

An experimental method to calibrate Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) displays by self-generating lens configurations on the studied device is proposed in this paper. On the one hand, a split-lens is displayed in the LCoS to self-generate an interference pattern from which the phase-voltage curve of the modulator is calculated. On the other hand, a microlens array is displayed on the LCoS, within a same experimental set-up, to implement a Shack-Hartmann (S-H) wavefront sensor, from which the display surface profile is retrieved. Specifically, by means of a feasible set-up, the proposed method allows measuring the deviation from flatness of the LCoS displays as well as to determine the phase-voltage response of phase-only SLMs. Experimental results demonstrate a linear tendency phase-voltage curve that ranges from 0 rad up to ∼6.28 rad, for the used light wavelength. Moreover, by extracting the LCoS phase distribution measured with the S-H configuration, the LCoS surface inhomogeneity is corrected by 95%. Fil: Zhang, Haolin. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; España Fil: Lizana, Ángel. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; España Fil: Iemmi, Claudio César. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Física; Argentina Fil: Monroy Ramírez, Freddy A.. Universidad Nacional de Colombia; Colombia Fil: Márquez, Andrés. Universidad de Alicante; España Fil: Moreno, Ignacio. Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche; España Fil: Campos, Juan. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; España

We demonstrate a simple fiber-implemented technique for retrieval of intensity profile and phase of ultrashort laser pulses based on processing only pulse spectrum and two self-phase modulated spectra measured after a short piece of optical fiber with Kerr nonlinearity. A Gerchberg–Saxton-like algorithm is used for processing the experimental data. The results obtained by the developed method of optical metrology are confirmed by independent FROG-measurements.