A fast-Fourier-transform method of topography and interferometry is proposed. By computer processing of a noncontour type of fringe pattern, automatic discrimination is achieved between elevation and depression of the object or wave-front form, which has not been possible by the fringe-contour-generation techniques. The method has advantages over moire topography and conventional fringe-contour interferometry in both accuracy and sensitivity. Unlike fringe-scanning techniques, the method is easy to apply because it uses no moving components.

Fourier-transform method of fringe-pattern analysis for computer-based topography and interferometry

The term photonic crystals appears because of the analogy between electron waves in crystals and the light waves in artificial periodic dielectric structures. During the recent years the investigation of one-, two-and three-dimensional periodic structures has attracted a widespread attention of the world optics community because of great potentiality of such structures in advanced applied optical fields. The interest in periodic structures has been stimulated by the fast development of semiconductor technology that now allows the fabrication of artificial structures, whose period is comparable with the wavelength of light in the visible and infrared ranges.

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/6354/16969/00781867.pdf

Photonic crystals

International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors 2003の要求清浄度について － シリコンウエハ表面と雰囲気環境に要求される清浄度, 分析方法の現状について －

A self-scanned 1024 element photodiode array and minicomputer are used to measure the phase (wavefront) in the interference pattern of an interferometer to lambda/100. The photodiode array samples intensities over a 32 x 32 matrix in the interference pattern as the length of the reference arm is varied piezoelectrically. Using these data the minicomputer synchronously detects the phase at each of the 1024 points by a Fourier series method and displays the wavefront in contour and perspective plot on a storage oscilloscope in less than 1 min (Bruning et al. Paper WE16, OSA Annual Meeting, Oct. 1972). The array of intensities is sampled and averaged many times in a random fashion so that the effects of air turbulence, vibrations, and thermal drifts are minimized. Very significant is the fact that wavefront errors in the interferometer are easily determined and may be automatically subtracted from current or subsequent wavefrots. Various programs supporting the measurement system include software for determining the aperture boundary, sum and difference of wavefronts, removal or insertion of tilt and focus errors, and routines for spatial manipulation of wavefronts. FFT programs transform wavefront data into point spread function and modulus and phase of the optical transfer function of lenses. Display programs plot these functions in contour and perspective. The system has been designed to optimize the collection of data to give higher than usual accuracy in measuring the individual elements and final performance of assembled diffraction limited optical systems, and furthermore, the short loop time of a few minutes makes the system an attractive alternative to constraints imposed by test glasses in the optical shop.

Digital wavefront measuring interferometer for testing optical surfaces and lenses

Fogging occurs when moisture condensation takes the form of accumulated droplets with diameters larger than 190 nm or half of the shortest wavelength (380 nm) of visible light. This problem may be effectively addressed by changing the affinity of a material’s surface for water, which can be accomplished via two approaches: i) the superhydrophilic approach, with a water contact angle (CA) less than 5°, and ii) the superhydrophobic approach, with a water CA greater than 150°, and extremely low CA hysteresis. To date, all techniques reported belong to the former category, as they are intended for applications in optical transparent coatings. A well-known example is the use of photocatalytic TiO2 nanoparticle coatings that become superhydrophilic under UV irradiation. Very recently, a capillary effect was skillfully adopted to achieve superhydrophilic properties by constructing 3D nanoporous structures from layer-by-layer assembled nanoparticles. The key to these two “wet”-style antifogging strategies is for micrometer-sized fog drops to rapidly spread into a uniform thin film, which can prevent light scattering and reflection from nucleated droplets. Optical transparency is not an intrinsic property of antifogging coatings even though recently developed antifogging coatings are almost transparent, and the transparency could be achieved by further tuning the nanoparticle size and film thickness. To our knowledge, the antifogging coatings may also be applied to many fields that do not require optical transparency, including, for example, paints for inhibiting swelling and peeling issues and metal surfaces for preventing corrosion. These types of issues, which are caused by adsorption of moisture, are hard to solve by the superhydrophilic approach because of its inherently “wet” nature. Thus, a “dry”-style antifogging strategy, which consists of a novel superhydrophobic technique that can prevent moisture or microscale fog drops from nucleating on a surface, is desired. Recent bionic researches have revealed that the self-cleaning ability of lotus leaves and the striking ability of a water-strider’s legs to walk on water can be attributed to the ideal superhydrophobicity of their surfaces, induced by special microand nanostructures. To date, the biomimetic fabrication of superhydrophobic microand/or nanostructures has attracted considerable interest, and these types of materials can be used for such applications as self-cleaning coatings and stain-resistant textiles. Although a superhydrophobic technique inspired by lotus leaves is expected to be able to solve such fogging problems because the water droplets can not remain on the surface, there are no reports of such antifogging coatings. Very recently, researchers from General Motors have reported that the surfaces of lotus leaves become wet with moisture because the size of the fog drops are at the microscale—so small that they can be easily trapped in the interspaces among micropapillae. Thus, lotuslike surface microstructures are unsuitable for superhydrophobic antifogging coatings, and a new inspiration from nature is desired for solving this problem. In this communication, we report a novel, biological, superhydrophobic antifogging strategy. It was found that the compound eyes of the mosquito C. pipiens possess ideal superhydrophobic properties that provide an effective protective mechanism for maintaining clear vision in a humid habitat. Our research indicates that this unique property is attributed to the smart design of elaborate microand nanostructures: hexagonally non-close-packed (ncp) nipples at the nanoscale prevent microscale fog drops from condensing on the ommatidia surface, and hexagonally close-packed (hcp) ommatidia at the microscale could efficiently prevent fog drops from being trapped in the voids between the ommatidia. We also fabricated artificial compound eyes by using soft lithography and investigated the effects of microand nanostructures on the surface hydrophobicity. These findings could be used to develop novel superhydrophobic antifogging coatings in the near future. It is known that mosquitoes possess excellent vision, which they exploit to locate various resources such as mates, hosts, and resting sites in a watery and dim habitat. To better understand such remarkable abilities, we first investigated the interaction between moisture and the eye surface. An ultrasonic humidifier was used to regulate the relative humidity of the atmosphere and mimic a mist composed of numerous tiny water droplets with diameters less than 10 lm. As the fog was C O M M U N IC A IO N

The dry-style antifogging properties of mosquito compound eyes and artificial analogues prepared by soft lithography: a superhydrophobic state with high adhesive force

We described a multi-probe system comprising three laser interferometers and one autocollimator to measure a flat bar
mirror profile with nanometer accuracy. The simulation and pre-experiment of multi-probe system have been conducted
on an X-Y linear stage which is composed of a ball bearing slider and a stepping motor. The two standard deviation of
the flat bar mirror profile is mainly fitting the range of simulation results (±20 nm). Comparison of our measured data
with the results measured by ZYGO white light interferometer system showed agreement to within approximately ±30
nm, excluding some points at the edge of the mirror. From the pre-experiment results, we conclude that the systematic
error caused by accuracy of the moving stage can't be ignored. To eliminate this systematic error, the multi-probe system
has been implemented on a high-precision micro-coordinate measuring machine (M-CMM) that has been built at the
Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST).

Multi-probe system comprising three laser interferometers and one autocollimator for measuring flat bar mirror profile with nanometer accuracy on a high-precision micro-coordinate measuring machine

The need for freeform measurement with sub-nanometer precision is increasing with the demand for freeform optics with only single nanometer or less of figure error and surface roughness in numerous fields. Since there are no method to meet the demand, therefore we developed a non-contact three-dimensional nanoprofiler based on normal vector tracing method with the light straightness and absolute-calibrated goniometers as core concepts. The nanoprofiler achieved the sub-nanometer repeatability at the figure measurement of spherical, aspherical, cylindrical, and patterned-flat mirror. However, our numerical analysis about the systematic errors of nanoprofiler revealed that the mismatch between the recognized and the actual optical path length L, the distance between the detector and the sample in nanoprofiler, causes the assembly and motion errors such as the second-order aberration. Therefore, we developed a tandem white light interferometer which references a high-precision linear encoder as a standard of displacement, in order to measure the physical distance of L absolutely. We expect that the second-order terms of systematic errors of nanoprofiler will be decreased below than 0.1 nm or less by measuring the absolute length of L with the uncertainty of 0.1 μm or less. The first interferometer fringe was obtained for the measuring test.

Absolute distance measurement of optical path length of non-contact three-dimensional nanoprofiler based on normal vector tracing method by tandem white-light interferometer

A new heterodyne interference system with an acoustic-optical modulator and a piezo-electric transducer is presented to realize absolute long-distance measurement. The experimental results at 22.5m show the reproducibility of 2μm in an hour.

Absolute Distance Measurement Using Long-Path Heterodyne Interferometer with Optical Frequency Comb

The uncertainty estimation of coordinate and profile measurement is essential for accurate measurement and establishment of traceability. We proposed an uncertainty propagation method to estimate the uncertainty of coordinate and profile measurement. In this article, the multi sensor algorithm with uncertainty estimation method is described for the profile measurement. Additionally, two examples of multi sensor method are introduced. According to the simulation results of assessing uncertainty and the experimental results, the validity of the method was confirmed.

Kiyoshi Takamasu

Papers

Multi-probe system comprising three laser interferometers and one autocollimator for measuring flat bar mirror profile with nanometer accuracy on a high-precision micro-coordinate measuring machine

Absolute distance measurement of optical path length of non-contact three-dimensional nanoprofiler based on normal vector tracing method by tandem white-light interferometer

Absolute Distance Measurement Using Long-Path Heterodyne Interferometer with Optical Frequency Comb

Uncertainty Estimation in Intelligent Coordinate and Profile Measurement

Improvement of quantitative depth evaluation for diffraction-limited microgroove using LED light source