Metrology of optical components.

Interferometry
Darius Mikšys
UAB Optogama
darius@optogama.com
Metrology of optical elements & systems
• Dimensions
• Surface quality (cosmetics)
• Parallelism
• Flatness
• Irregularity
• Power
• Wavefront distortion
• Homogeneity
• Radius of Curvature (lens)
• Roughness
• Centration (lens)
• Coating quality (spectra, adhesion, abrasion, environmental testing)
• LIDT, absorbtance, scattering
• Depolarization
• And others
Metrology of optical elements & systems
• Dimensions
• Surface quality (cosmetics)
• Parallelism
• Flatness
• Irregularity
• Power
• Wavefront distortion
• Homogeneity
• Radius of Curvature (lens)
• Roughness
• Centration (lens)
• Coating quality (spectra, adhesion, abrasion, environmental testing)
• LIDT, absorbtance, scattering
• Depolarization
• And others
Specifying Optical Components
International standards for specifying optical components – ISO-10110.
The ISO standards provide a shortcut for simplifying drawings.
When they are used correctly, they allow technical communication across
cultures and languages
Surface Form Deviation

• Standard deviation of an optical surface from its ideal form

• ISO 10110 nomenclature: 3/power(irregularity), in fringes
Flatness
• Surface accuracy with respect to plane
reference surface.
• Units, typical : L/30 – L/4, Peak to
Valley; fringes
• Units, typical : L/150-L/50, RMS
Flatness
• Surface accuracy with respect to plane
reference surface.
• Flatness – Peak-Valey - Surface error

• Units, typical : L/30 – L/4, Peak to

Valley
• Units, typical : L/150-L/50, RMS
sample

Test plate
Power
• Power is used when dealing with a curved surface to define the deviation of
the fabricated surface radius from the radius of an inversely shaped test plate.
• The sagitta of curvature with respect to an ideal plane is denoted as power.
• Units, typical: L/4; 0,2-3 fringes
Irregularity
• Used to define how the surface deviates
from the perfect shape of the test plate,
as demonstrated by a spherical or
cylindrical surface.
• The uniformity of the rings' shape
indicates the limit of the surface's
regularity.
• This deviation is also known as surface
figure.
• Irregularity – PV value of the wavefront
irregularity. It‘s surface form error that
remains after SAG or best fit sphere is
removed.
• Units, typical : L/10 – L/4;
0,5-0,2 fringes
Two beam interference
• Constructive interference happens when
two waves overlap in such a way that
they combine to create a larger wave.

• Destructive interference happens when

two waves overlap in such a way that
they cancel each other out.
Two beam interference
• The two-beam interference equation for monochromatic
waves is:

• I is the irradiance. Detectors respond to irradiance, which is the electric field

amplitude, A, squared:

• φ is the phase of the wave in radians: 0 ≤ φ ≤ 2π

• is the phase difference between the test and reference beams
Two beam interference
• Conditions for Obtaining Fringes

• The light in one beam must be both temporally

and spatially coherent with the other beam in
the region where interference fringes are to be
observed.

• Polarization properties of the two beams must

be compatible.

• Relative irradiances of the two beams must be

close in magnitude.
Interferometer
• An interferometer is an instrument that uses the
interference of light to make precise measurements of
surface flatness, thickness, surface roughness, optical
power, material homogeneity, distances
• The resolution of an interferometer is governed by the
wavelength of light used and is on the order of a few
nanometers.
• Interferogram is captured and analyzed (manually or
digitally)
Newton interferometer
Newton interferometer
• Most common applications of the Newton
interferometer is the testing of the faces of small
lenses while they are being polished

• Test plate with the opposite radius of curvature is

made according to the required accuracy and then
placed over the surface under test. A test plate is
useful not only to detect surface irregularities but
also to check the deviation of the radius of
curvature from the desired value
• The radius of curvature is checked by counting the
number of circular fringes
Fizeau interferometer
Laser-based Fizeau
• The biggest advantage of the laser-based Fizeau is that all
the optics up to the reference surface are common path.
• Easy to change the system to test different types of optics.

reference beam is created by a Fresnel reflection,

the reference beam is about 4% of the incident light
Laser-based Fizeau
Twyman-Green Interferometer
• The Twyman-Green interferometer was invented and patented in 1916 and
was originally intended for testing prisms and microscope objectives.
• Easy to implement for large optics tests (>ø1m)
 Phase shifting interferometry (PSI)
• The interference pattern obtained with a Fizeau or Twyman–Green interferometer is a
contour map of the errors of the wavefront.
• Static fringes do not provide information about error sign, concave/convex surface
• The simplest way to generate the phase shifts (or phase steps) is to mount one of the
mirrors of the interferometer on a piezoelectric transducer (PZT) to which
appropriate voltages are applied.
• During the phase shifting operation, the fringe pattern will appear to move across
the field. This is analogous to the fringe motion generated by pushing on the test
flat to determine the high and low points when observing Newton’s rings.

ADVANTAGES OF PSI
• Accuracy and repeatability
• Better signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio
• Complex fringe patern can be analysed
• Insensitive to spatial variations of intensity, detector sensitivity and fixed pattern noise

Four interferograms recorded with phase shifts of 90

and a horizontal Line-Scan through
their center.
Evaluation of Interferograms

Quantify the deviation of fringe pattern from ideal, best fitting

pattern.
Deviation is presented as a fraction of the spacing between a pair
of fringes in the ideal pattern.

Δs/s is the fractional distortion in the fringe spacing

S - fringe spacing in the best fitting pattern
Δs – maximum deviation of fringe pattern from the best
fitting pattern
Distortion= Δs/s * scale_factor

Example, Δs=1/4fr, s=1fr=2λ (always); scale_factor= λ/2

Distortion=1/4* λ/2 -> λ/8
If λ=632,8nm, then Distortion=79,1nm
Evaluation of Interferograms
Evaluation of Interferograms

• Manual techniques
• Automatic pattern processor
Flatness vs wavefront error
• Surface flatness and RWE are directly
related in that
flatness describes the physical deviation
of the optic itself, while
RWE describes the resulting effect on
the wavefront.
When measured at normal incidence,
RWE is simply equal to twice the flatness
value

Flatness – Peak-Valey - Surface error

Scale factor
Parallelism/wedge measurement
Parallelism/wedge measurement
Material homogeneity setup
 Radius of Curvature setup
• Radius of curvature is defined as the distance from the
surface (or the best-fit spherical equivalent) to the center of
curvature.

• Measure the radius of curvature of concave or convex

spherical surfaces.

• Two phase measurements are made, one at catseye where

the interferometer beam converges at a point, and the
second at confocal where the center of curvature is
coincident with the convergence point of the interferometer
beam.

• The part radius is determined using the confocal and catseye

measurements and the z-axis distance traveled between
them.

• Can measure actual ROC value and/or deviation from

designed value
Test of aspheric surfaces

• Null tests
• Reference surface – the same
wavefront, as test sample
• Computer-Generated Holograms
Aberations
Aberations
Stress evaluation after glueing, mounting
What impacts measured result
• Mechanical vibrations
• Air movement
• Different temperature of sample and environment
• Specle reflections
• Low contrast fringes
• Misalignment (lenses, doublets)
Results.
Results. ISO 10110-5.
 ISO 10110 – 3/A(B/C)
• 3/Power (Irregularity/Rotationaly Symmetric Irregularity) [fr]

• Power (λ/4) 0.5fr

• Irregularity (λ/10) 0.2fr
• 3/0.5 (0.2)
λ=546,07 nm
White light interfometry
• A white light interferometer - is an interferometer, typically a
Michelson interferometer, which works with a white light
source
• Low-coherence interferometry
• White light interferometry can be thought of as an optical focus
sensor where the position of the interference signal determines
best focus. Typically, these setups consist of a conventional
microscope outfitted with an interferometric objective.
• The advantage of interferometric systems over most other
optical and stylus profilers is their ability to scan the entire field
rather than proceed by point to point scanning. Because the
whole area is imaged at the same time, lateral scanning
becomes unnecessary, which greatly speeds up the
measurement process.
• Vertical resolution here is defined as RMS of the difference
measurement on smooth sample
• The low temporal and spatial coherence of the source creates
interference fringes that are localized in space
White light interfometry

Can also be found under the following names:

• White light interferometry (WLI)
• Vertical scanning interferometry (VSI)
• Low coherence interferometry (LCI)
• Coherence probe
• Optical coherence profilometry (OCP)
• Optical coherence microscopy
White light interfometry
• position of the zero order interference fringes must be
independent of wavelength. spacing of the interference
fringes must be independent of wavelength
• Light from the source passes through a beam splitter to
generate a measurement beam and reference beam.
• The interferometer scans it's focus or Z-height through a
height range and the intensity of reflected light versus
focus height is captured by a CCD
• This intensity fringing data is analyzed to produce a 3D
contour map of the sample surface
White light interfometry
White light interfometry
• Michelson interferometer is Mirrau Linnik

used for low magnifications (1x-

5x)
• Typically the Mirau
interferometer is used for
magnifications between 10 and
50X
• Linnik interferometer is used for
high magnifications (100x)
large NA
short working distance
White light interfometry
Advantages
Measurement in sub-nanometer range is possible.
Low noise (purious interference fringes is avoided)
Surface measured at correct focus plane (High
contrast)
Large dynamic range is obtained maintaining
Quick measurement
Resolution in Z plane <1nm
Surface metrology data is presented in the form of
pseudo-color height maps, 3D images, line profiles
and surface roughness parameters (e.g. Ra, Rz)
No or limited angular characteristic
Use is limited on certain objects
White light interferometers can only measure when there is a good reflection.
Measurements may also not be possible when there is a significant difference
between the light reflected from the reference mirror and light reflected from the
measurement area.
Requires tilt correction
Prior to measuring, sample tilt correction must be performed using a goniometric
stage. Tilted samples can cause closely-spaced interference patters, which hinder
measurement accuracy. Some white light interferometry systems are equipped
with a tilt mechanism that automatically corrects the sample tilt.
Low resolution for XY stage measurements, ~0.5µm
The resolution for XY stage measurements are low due to the low number of
sampling data sets
Sensitive to vibrations
Place of installation is limited due to the equipment’s high sensitivity to
vibrations. Shock-absorbing tables are necessary for installation.
Literature
• P. HARIHARAN, Basics of INTERFEROMETRY
• Eric P. Goodwin, James C. Wyant, Field guide to interferometric optical testing
• Optical Shop Testing, Third Edition, Daniel Malacara
• Interferogram analysis for optical testing, Daniel Malacara
• Basic Interferometry and Optical Testing, University of Arizona
• https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:395542/FULLTEXT01.pdf