We recently demonstrated that the 3D shape of micro-parts can be measured using LED illumination based on contrast evaluation. The technique is based on imaging the object under test using partially coherent illumination. The limited spatial coherence of LED illumination was utilized to discriminate depth. For a fast depth scan without mechanically moving parts, an electrically tunable lens (ETL) in a 4f optical configuration is used. This approach is efficient, takes less than a second to capture all required images, is eye-safe, and offers a depth of focus of a few millimeters. However, the main limitation of the proposed approach arises from the underlying assumption that a small angle of variation of illumination is required. Such a small illumination aperture affects the axial scan resolution that dominates the measurement uncertainty. In the present paper we propose a method to overcome the main limitation of the above-mentioned profiling technique. The approach combines measurements with multiple illumination directions achieved by illuminating the object simultaneously with several independent light sources. In this way, the full-width half maximum of the contrast envelope is reduced. A tilted metallic plate is used for proof of concept.
The adaptive Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor (SHWFS), which integrates deformable mirror (DM) with SHWFS, is effectively used for measuring and characterizing optical elements such as thick lenses, contact lenses, and intraocular lenses (IOLs). The major advantage of combining the DM with SHWFS is the ability of the DM to implement dynamic corrections of any existing wavefront aberrations. However, the measurement dynamic range of the system is limited by the active area of the DM which has a relatively small bandwidth product. This issue can be physically overcome using compound-lens methodology that uses an additional lens or lens system along with the lens under test. The selection criterion of the compound-lens system is based on the focal length of the tested lens, the effective focal length of the tested lens with the compound lens, and the distance between them. Thus, the optimal selection of the compound-lens system and the setup parameters significantly contribute to readjusting the laser beam diameter to properly fit the DM’s active area. Hence, the measurement dynamic range could be successfully extended. To prove the concept, the dynamic range of the used adaptive SHWFS system is first determined. Then, a group of lenses beyond the dynamic range of the system was measured using the compound-lens methodology. The experimental results reveal that the proposed compound-lens methodology can effectively extend the dynamic range of the measurements while keeping the root-mean-square error minimal.
A phase-only spatial light modulator (SLM) is a device that is commonly used in various optical applications. Generally, SLM offers great advantages such as low power consumption and compact design. However, due to the manufacturing process, the main drawbacks of the SLM are surface non-uniformity and cross-talk between adjacent pixels, which add undesirable phase modulation. As a result, the SLM’s functionality is impacted, leading to image quality degradation, in terms of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), of optical reconstruction in holographic projection, for instance. Therefore, the aim of the current study is to measure and compensate for the surface non-uniformities of the SLM and improve its phase modulation. To achieve this, Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor (SHWFS) is utilized. At first, a flat constant phase pattern is displayed on the SLM, and its surface phase shape is measured using a plane wave illumination. The reflected wavefront from the SLM is measured using SHWFS and then its phase information has been calculated. Hence, the calculated phase values are converted into a phase-only computer-generated hologram (CGH). The calculated CGH is displayed on the phase-only SLM to compensate for the phase errors of the SLM. The reflected wavefront has been measured after displaying the CGH to evaluate the compensation process. The experimental results reveal that the SHWFS provides high accuracy in the measurement of the phase distortion introduced by the surface of SLM. The SHWFS method is simple, robust, offers real-time performance, and is vibration-insensitive when compared with interferometric approaches.
The coherence function offers new possibilities for optical metrology not available with conventional wave field sensing. Its measurement involves spatio-temporal sampling of wave fields modulated by the object under investigation. While the evaluation of the coherence function is more elaborate than conventional approaches, an information theoretical treatment shows that it also delivers more information about the object under investigation. In order to achieve efficient information extraction from the coherence function, advanced approaches involving compressed sensing are required to obtain optical metrology techniques that are simultaneously precise, robust and fast as well as suited for complex measurement situations.
We propose a new solution for sensing a terahertz (THz) wavefront based on a THz reference-less shear interferometer. The key component of the experimental configuration of the proposed interferometer is a THz Ronchi phase grating (RPG). The RPG is custom designed and fabricated for a 0.28 THz source using mechanical milling on a block of high-density polyethylene with a computer numerical control machine. It acts as a shearing element that generates two diffraction orders, thereby, creating two laterally shifted copies of the investigated wavefront in the sensor plane where a THz camera is placed. The direction of the shear can be varied by rotating the grating. Since the grating is a phase grating, the diffraction efficiency is very high. The approach is verified experimentally by demonstrating interferograms of a spherical wave and wavefront reconstruction from five different shears using a gradient-based iterative process.
We propose a new solution for sensing a terahertz (THz) wavefront based on a THz reference-less shear interferometer. The key component of the experimental configuration of the proposed interferometer is a THz Ronchi phase grating (RPG). The RPG is custom designed and fabricated for a 0.28 THz source using mechanical milling on a block of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with a computer numerical control (CNC) machine. It acts as a shearing element that generates two diffraction orders, thereby creating two laterally shifted copies of the investigated wavefront in the sensor plane where a THz camera is placed. The direction of the shear can be varied by rotating the grating. Since the grating is a phase grating, the diffraction efficiency is very high. The approach is verified experimentally by demonstrating interferograms of a spherical wave and wavefront reconstruction from five different shears using a gradient-based iterative process.
Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor (SHWFS) is considered as an efficient and complementary tool in the field of optics metrology. It is widely used for evaluating and characterizing rigid glass and soft eye contact lenses. However, the presence of any type of aberrations will cause measurement errors decreasing the precision of the sensor. Therefore, in the current study an experimental configuration based on an active adaptive SHWFS was presented for optical testing of circular optical elements such as thin and soft eye contact lenses. As an adaptive element, deformable mirror (DM), was integrated to the SHWFS setup to dynamically compensate for the wavefront aberrations of the illumination laser beam to provide an ideal plane. The concept was firstly verified by measuring standard thin lenses then applied to measure soft eye contact lenses. For the quantitative evaluation, Zernike polynomials was used to accurately define the dominant modes of wavefront aberrations and thus to calculate the wavefront to be written on the DM. Based on the standard deviation (1σ) between the given and the measured focal lengths of the tested thin glass lenses, the measurements show an improvement of the measurement error from 15.18% difference of the uncompensated wavefront and 3.90% of the referencebased method to only 2.11% after aberration compensation of the illumination beam. While for the contact lenses, the measurement error was 22.93% for uncompensated aberrations, 51% for the reference-based method, and 1.75% after aberrations compensation. The results reveal that the aberrations of the illumination laser beam and the wet cell induced aberrations affect the accuracy of the measurements which can be drastically improved by compensating the existing aberrations utilizing the active adaptive SHWFS setup. In conclusion, adaptive-SHWFS can be considered as an in-production, accurate and complementary tool for testing of optical components.
The present study aims at utilizing holographic projection to reconstruct 3D information of brain tumor progression. The holograms were calculated using an adaptive iterative Fourier transform algorithm and projected using a spatial light modulator.
We present an experimental configuration that enables form measurement from a single-shot camera exposure. It combines two-wavelength contouring with spatial multiplexing digital holography. This is achieved by simultaneously illuminating the test object from two different angles. The two illumination directions and the two-wavelength contouring result in four holograms, which are spatially multiplexed on a single camera target avoiding unwanted cross interference between them by means of coherence gating. In contrast to standard holographic contouring methods, the proposed technique reduces speckle decorrelation noise and enables single-shot form measurement. To demonstrate this technique, the shape of a microcold drawing part is determined.
We demonstrate a digital holographic system for the fast inspection of the interior of micro parts, which is capable of working in an industrial environment. We investigate micro objects using Two-Wavelength-Contouring with a synthetic wavelength of approximately 90 μm. Special consideration is given to the mechanical robustness of the system. A compact Michelson-setup in front of the imaging optics increases the robustness for the measurement as the light paths of the object and reference have almost a common path. We also implement the Two-Frame Phase Shifting method for the recording of a complex wavefield. The use of two cameras for different polarized states for the object- and reference wave allows the recording of a complex wavefield in a single exposure per wavelength. The setup allows determining the shape of the interior surface of the object and faults such as scratches with a measurement uncertainty of approximately 5 μm.
We present an experimental configuration that enables form measurement from a single-shot camera exposure. It combines two-wavelength contouring with spatial multiplexing synthetic-aperture digital holography. The synthetic-aperture in this work is formed by simultaneously illuminating the test object from two different angles. The two illumination directions and the two-wavelength contouring result in four holograms which are spatially multiplexed on a single camera target avoiding unwanted cross-interference between them by means of coherence gating. In contrast to standard holographic contouring methods, the proposed technique reduces speckle decorrelation noise and enables single shot form measurement. To demonstrate this technique, the shape of a micro cold drawing part is determined.
We present a method for holographic imaging through a volume scattering material, which is based on selfreference and light with good spatial but limited temporal coherence. In contrast to existing techniques, we do not require a separate reference wave, thus our approach provides great advantages towards the flexibility of the measurement system. The main applications are remote sensing and investigation of moving objects through gaseous streams, bubbles or foggy water for example. Furthermore, due to the common path nature, the system is also insensitive to mechanical disturbances. The measurement result is a complex amplitude which is comparable to a phase shifted digital hologramm and therefore allows 3D imaging, numerical refocusing and quantitative phase contrast imaging. As an example of application, we present measurements of the quantitative phase contrast of the epidermis of an onion through a volume scattering material.
We present an efficient and less time consuming implementation of Computational Shear Interferometry (CoSI) by applying a smoothness on the assigned wave field. The method is used to recover the three dimensional form of a micro injection molded part from a set of shear measurements. For this purpose, six shear experiments have been recorded with the shears varying in orientation and magnitude. Varying the shears orientation and magnitude is applied using a setup consisting of a 4f filter with a reflective phase-only spatial light modulator (SLM) in the corresponding Fourier plane. The SLM is used as an electronic diffraction grating with a blazed structure. Based on the birefringent properties of the SLM two orthogonally polarized images, one diffracted and one reflected, appear on the camera sensor and produce shear interferograms. The shift between the images depends on the period and the orientation of the blazed grating. From shear interferograms, the phase of light diffracted by the object is reconstructed by CoSI. Thus the height map of the object is determined.
We present a Nomarski microscope with variable shear distance that allows for determining the full complex
modulation function including the quantitative phase contrast that a specimen imposes on incident light, rather
than only its differential phase contrast. The system preserves all beneficial properties of the Nomarski setup
with respect to coherence and stability. Hence, we can measure the quantitative phase contrast under Köhler
illumination with full condenser aperture and without vibration isolation. We will explain the system, give an
analysis of the coherence requirements and provide an example from the field of MEMS inspection.
In this publication, we give a brief introduction into the field of computational shear interferometry, which allows for determining arbitrary wave fields from a set of shear interferograms. We discuss limitations of the method with respect to the coherence of the underlying wave field and present various numerical methods to recover it from its sheared representations. Finally, we show experimental results on digital holography of objects with rough surfaces using a fiber coupled light-emitting diode and quantitative phase contrast imaging as well as numerical refocusing in differential interference contrast microscopy.
In this publication we give a brief introduction into the field of Computational Shear Interferometry (CoSI),
which allows for determining arbitrary wave fields from a set of shear interferograms. We discuss limitations of
the method with respect to the coherence of the underlying wave field and present various numerical methods
to recover it from its sheared representations. Finally, we show experimental results on Digital Holography of
objects with rough surface using a fiber coupled light emitting diode and quantitative phase contrast imaging as
well as numerical refocusing in Differential Interference Contrast (DIC) microscopy.
We present an approach to inspect carbon reinforced plastic components which is based on phase retrieval using a liquid crystal spatial
light modulator (SLM). The SLM is located in the Fourier domain of a 4f-imaging system and is used to modulate the incident light
with the transfer function of propagation. This configuration allows for the recording of consecutive intensity measurements, with the
wave field scattered by the investigated object in various propagation states across a common recording plane. In contrast to existing
phase retrieval approaches, the measuring time is considerably reduced, since the switching time of the SLM is less than 50ms. This
enables non-destructive testing under thermal load. Experimental results are presented which demonstrate that the approach can be
used to assess structural properties of technical components made from carbon reinforced plastics.
For deterministic phase retrieval, the problem of insignificant axial intensity variations upon defocus of a smooth object
wavefront is addressed. Our proposed solution is based on the use of a phase diffuser facilitating the formation of a
partially-developed speckle field (i.e., a field with both scattered-wave and unperturbed-wave components). The smooth
test wavefront impinges first on the phase diffuser producing the speckle field. Then two speckle patterns with different
defocus are recorded at the output plane of a 4f-optical filtering setup with a spatial light modulator (SLM) in the
common Fourier domain. The local variations of the recorded speckle patterns and the defocus distance approximate the
axial intensity derivative which, in turn, is required to recover the wavefront phase via the transport of intensity equation
(TIE). The SLM setup reduces the speckle recording time and the TIE allows direct (i.e., non-iterative) calculation of the
phase. The pre-requisite partially-developed speckle field in our technique facilitates high image contrast and significant
axial intensity variation. Wavefront reconstruction for the 3D refractive test object used demonstrates the effectiveness
of the technique.
Recently we have proposed the conception of an innovative experimental scheme for phase retrieval from a set
of consecutive intensity measurements. It is based on a 4f-optical filter with a reflective phase-only spatial light
modulator (SLM) located in the Fourier domain. The main advantage of this scheme is the greatly reduced
measurement time since no mechanical shift is required throughout the capturing process. To recover the phase,
the captured intensities have been subjected to an iterative process based on generalized projections. Here,
we investigate the influence of misalignment, between the optical axes of the setup, on the performance of
the iterative scheme's solution. It is demonstrated that if misalignments is present, measurement errors will be
propagated in the iterative process and thus affect the accuracy and the rate of convergence of the phase retrieval.
The concept is demonstrated by investigating the wavefield diffracted by the U.S. Air Force resolution target.
In the case of an aligned setup, it is shown that only 5 planes and 10 iterations give good reconstructions.
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