Abstract

We propose a novel common-path non-null interference system for the surface measurement of complex optics. Because of the common-path structure, systematic errors are mostly eliminated and the complexity of system calibration is reduced for the proposed setup. However, optical design of common-path non-null interference systems is of great difficulty because many off-axis beams are used to compensate for the local gradient of the measured piece. Different from the classical common-path interferometers, which pay more attention to the beam quality of the on-axis field of view (FOV), the proposed system requires better quality for both on-axis and off-axis outgoing beams. In the proposed setup, the lens groups with wide FOVs afford wave aberrations better than $0.1\lambda$ for the on-axis and off-axis FOVs. Simultaneously, the off-axis beams are prevented from generating pseudo reference beams by optimizing the parameters of the lenses and the aperture. In addition, multiple tilted test beams are generated by a point-source generator based on a fiber array, which is more versatile than a lens-array-type point-source generator. Further, a universal measurement system with high accuracy and time savings is formed, as evidenced by the measurement results of a parabolic mirror and different types of cylindrical mirrors.

© 2019 Optical Society of America

Two-step carrier-wave stitching method for aspheric and freeform surface measurement with a standard spherical interferometer

Qun Hao, Shaopu Wang, Yao Hu, Yifeng Tan, Tengfei Li, and Shanshan Wang
Appl. Opt. 57(17) 4743-4750 (2018)

Analytical Jacobian and its application to tilted-wave interferometry

Ines Fortmeier, Manuel Stavridis, Axel Wiegmann, Michael Schulz, Wolfgang Osten, and Clemens Elster
Opt. Express 22(18) 21313-21325 (2014)

Virtual interferometer calibration method of a non-null interferometer for freeform surface measurements

Qun Hao, Shaopu Wang, Yao Hu, Hanglin Cheng, Meng Chen, and Tengfei Li
Appl. Opt. 55(35) 9992-10001 (2016)

Measurement investigation of an off-axis aspheric surface via a hybrid compensation method

Shijie Li, Jin Zhang, Weiguo Liu, Zhongda Guo, Hong Li, Zhiqiang Yang, Bingcai Liu, Ailing Tian, and Xiaoqin Li
Appl. Opt. 57(28) 8220-8227 (2018)

Common-path achromatic interferometer-coronagraph: images from a breadboard demonstrator

Alexander V. Tavrov, Jun Nishikawa, Motohide Tamura, Lyu Abe, Kaito Yokochi, Takashi Kurokawa, and Mitsuo Takeda
Appl. Opt. 46(28) 6885-6895 (2007)