A "virtual-interferometer" technique for surface metrology

Opt Express. 2010 Apr 26;18(9):8772-80. doi: 10.1364/OE.18.008772.

Abstract

We demonstrate a novel technique for performing aberration-corrected surface metrology within existing wavefront-feedback systems. Our technique uses several phase measurements to calculate phase differences that directly reveal the surface gradients of an object under test, due to orthogonal displacements of that object between measurements. We then apply a least-squares algorithm for surface reconstruction using the gradient information. This approach also removes static system aberrations, providing an absolute measurement of the surface profile. To date, we have profiled a number of test optics with 20- to 40-nm RMS error, where the accuracy is determined by the amount of angular crosstalk over the system aperture.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't