Optical Measurement Methods and Metrology

PDF (0.6 MB)We are engaged in research, development and implementation of optical measuring systems for measuring the shape of optical surfaces of polished as well as grinded surfaces. We further provide support and services to other departments in the field of inter-operation measurements or final characteristics of optical elements and whole systems. In addition to the above, we develop interferometric, holographic or microscopic methods for measuring various nonstandard quantities in the fields of vibrometry, material engineering, heat and mass transfer, etc.

Team and equipment

• a team with extensive experience in the application of measurement methods in demanding and high-precision tests (for internal purposes as well as for tasks solved in cooperation with industrial partners) supplemented by Ph.D. students and M.Sc. students
• computational software (such as Comsol multiphysics, Matlab, Wolfram Mathematica, C ++ builder, Virtual studio) and dedicated device software for measuring and evaluating data
• basic measuring instruments for optical workshops as well as a wide range of other advanced systems (for example, aspherical interferometer with subaperture stitching, laser optical profilometer, contact / non-contact profilometer with the possibility to measure any shape with high accuracy, phase contrast polarizing microscope, white light interferometer for measurement of surface roughness, etc.)
• for specific and non-standard measurements, we have damped optical tables and a wide range of components for the building of interferometric, holographic, and other laboratory arrangements (coherent laser sources with different wavelengths, tunable laser, spatial filters, beam splitters, collimation optics, phase modulators, beam profile and power meters, wavelength meters, fiber components, high resolution or high frame cameras, electronic devices, etc.)

Activities

In the long term, we have been focusing on the development of methods based on interferometry and holographic interferometry in digital form. The greatest effort has been devoted to the development of methods for measurement of the shape of optical surfaces (including aspherical and free-form optics). A specific area is the measurement of the shapes of whole structures including fiducial marks for the correct assembling of optical elements within the holders or whole assemblies. We have also been developing measurements of the shape of optical surfaces using multiwavelength and subaperture interferometry.

Other areas include digital holographic microscopy or tomography, which can also be applied on a microscopic scale. Furthermore, we develop industrial measurement systems for specific applications such as the development of the Shack-Hartmann (SH) sensor for adaptive optics or various devices using computer vision. All activities include a comprehensive solution i.e. design and assembling of the system, developing software tools for data processing as well as for system hardware control.

Projects

• Reference algorithms and metrology for aspherical and free-form optics
• Measurement instruments for aspherical and free-form optical surfaces PDF (1.1 MB)

Cooperation

We work closely with scientific research institutes in the Czech Republic and abroad. For example, the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) (Germany), Laboratoire National de Métrologie et D'Essais (France), Meopta optics s.r.o., Technical University of Liberec, asphericon GmbH (Germany), CRYTUR, spol. s r. o., University of Eastern Finland (Finland), Research Institute of Textile Machinery, a.s.

Contact

Ing. Pavel Psota, Ph.D.
Tel: + 420 487 953 901
Email: psota@ipp.cas.cz