We report what is to our knowledge the first approach to diamond turn microoptical lens array on a steep curved substrate by use of a voice coil fast tool servo. In recent years ultraprecision machining has been employed to manufacture accurate optical components with 3D structure for beam shaping, imaging and nonimaging applications. As a result, geometries that are difficult or impossible to manufacture using lithographic techniques might be fabricated using small diamond tools with well defined cutting edges. These 3D structures show no rotational symmetry, but rather high frequency asymmetric features thus can be treated as freeform geometries. To transfer the 3D surface data with the high frequency freeform features into a numerical control code for machining, the commonly piecewise differentiable surfaces are represented as a cloud of individual points. Based on this numeric data, the tool radius correction is calculated to account for the cutting-edge geometry. Discontinuities of the cutting tool locations due to abrupt slope changes on the substrate surface are bridged using cubic spline interpolation.When superimposed with the trajectory of the rotationally symmetric substrate the complete microoptical geometry in 3D space is established. Details of the fabrication process and performance evaluation are described.
An outstanding technique in point of ultra-precision as well as economical production of mirrors is Single Point Diamond Turning (SPDT). The unique properties of the diamonds are used to get optical surfaces with roughness values down to 5 nm rms (root mean square) and very precise form accuracy down to 70 nm rms and 500 nm p.-v. (peak to valley) value over an area of 200 mm x 200 mm. This quality level is typical for applications in the Near Infrared (NIR) and Infrared (IR) range. For applications in the VIS and UV range the turning structures must be removed with a smoothing procedure in order to minimize the scatter losses. Favorable is an aluminium base body plated with a thick-film of Nickel-Phosphorus alloy (NiP). This alloy can be polished with computer assistance. Ion Beam Figuring (IBF) is the final manufacturing step. The properties after the finishing process are better than 1 nm rms for roughness and down to 15 nm rms respectively 100 nm p.-v. regarding the surface irregularity for complex optical shapes. The techniques SPDT, polishing and IBF ensures a high quality level for large mirrors with plan, spherical or aspherical surfaces. The manufacturing chain will be analyzed by surface characterisation based on 2D profilometry and white light interferometry to measure the roughness and 3D-profilometry and interferometry to monitor the shape irregularity. Scattering light analysis deepens these investigations. This paper summarizes technologies and measurement results for SPDT and surface finish of metal mirrors for novel optical applications
The fabrication chain for the development of an a focal all aluminum telescope using four anamorphic aspherical mirrors is described. The optical and mechanical design are intended to achieve an enhanced system integration with reduced alignment effort by arranging two optical surfaces monolithically on common mirror bodies. Freeform machining is carried out by a hybrid fabrication approach combining diamond turning and diamond milling in the same machine setup. A direct figure correction of diamond turned aluminum mirrors by magneto-rheological finishing is presented, resulting in high-precision athermal mirror modules with excellent figure properties. The interferometric system test highlights the diffraction limited telescope performance and the feasibility of the chosen approaches for freeform machining and mechanical integration
Artificial compound eyes are typically designed on planar substrates due to the limits of current imaging devices and available manufacturing processes. In this study, a high precision, low cost, three-layer 3D artificial compound eye consisting of a 3D microlens array, a freeform lens array, and a field lens array was constructed to mimic an apposition compound eye on a curved substrate. The freeform microlens array was manufactured on a curved substrate to alter incident light beams and steer their respective images onto a flat image plane. The optical design was performed using ZEMAX. The optical simulation shows that the artificial compound eye can form multiple images with aberrations below 11 μm; adequate for many imaging applications. Both the freeform lens array and the field lens array were manufactured using microinjection molding process to reduce cost. Aluminum mold inserts were diamond machined by the slow tool servo method. The performance of the compound eye was tested using a home-built optical setup. The images captured demonstrate that the proposed structures can successfully steer images from a curved surface onto a planar photoreceptor. Experimental results show that the compound eye in this research has a field of view of 87°. In addition, images formed by multiple channels were found to be evenly distributed on the flat photoreceptor. Additionally, overlapping views of the adjacent channels allow higher resolution images to be re-constructed from multiple 3D images taken simultaneously.
Aspherical surfaces for imaging or spectroscopy are a centerpiece of high-performance optics. Due to the high alignment sensitivity of aspheric surfaces, reference elements and interfaces with a tight geometrical relation to the mirror are as important as the high quality of the optical surface itself. The developed manufacturing method, which accounts for the shape and also for the position of the mirror surfaces, allows controlling and precisely correcting not only the form, but also the alignment of reference marks, interfaces or even other mirrors in the sub-assembly using diamond turning. For Korsch or TMA telescopes it is also possible to diamond turn whole sub-assemblies containing two or more mirrors with a relative position error as low as the machine precision. Reference elements allow the correction of the shape and position of mirrors as well as the position of interfaces for system integration. The presented method opens up a novel manufacturing strategy to enhance the relative positioning accuracy of optic assemblies by one order of magnitude
The fabrication of complex shaped metal mirrors for optical imaging is a classical application area of diamond machining techniques. Aspherical and freeform shaped optical components up to several 100 mm in diameter can be manufactured with high precision in an acceptable amount of time. However, applications are naturally limited to the infrared spectral region due to scatter losses for shorter wavelengths as a result of the remaining periodic diamond turning structure. Achieving diffraction limited performance in the visible spectrum demands for the application of additional polishing steps. Magnetorheological Finishing (MRF) is a powerful tool to improve figure and finish of complex shaped optics at the same time in a single processing step. The application of MRF as a figuring tool for precise metal mirrors is a nontrivial task since the technology was primarily developed for figuring and finishing a variety of other optical materials, such as glasses or glass ceramics. In the presented work, MRF is used as a figuring tool for diamond turned aluminum lightweight mirrors with electroless nickel plating. It is applied as a direct follow-up process after diamond machining of the mirrors. A high precision measurement setup, composed of an interferometer and an advanced Computer Generated Hologram with additional alignment features, allows for precise metrology of the freeform shaped optics in short measuring cycles. Shape deviations less than 150 nm PV / 20 nm rms are achieved reliably for freeform mirrors with apertures of more than 300 mm. Characterization of removable and induced spatial frequencies is carried out by investigating the Power Spectral Density
We report on an ultra-precise manufacturing method of a hyperspectral, mirror based IR-Telescope for applications in the Mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR). The proposed method simplifies the otherwise time consuming system alignment by the use of a snap-together assembly technique, that can be used for rotationally symmetric designs such as Korsch or Three Mirror Anastigmatic (TMA) telescope designs. The proposed technology is based on diamond machining of at least two mirror surfaces on one common substrate in one and the same machine setup. A novel hybrid manufacturing approach, which is a combination of diamond turning and diamond milling is used to manufacture fiducials and mounting planes that reduce the adjustment expenditure significantly. Reference elements and interfaces on the substrates are the basis for a precise metrology of the shape and the position of the optical surfaces as well as for the final assembly of the optical bench. The system integration into a hexapod framework is also based on precisely diamond machined stop surfaces to define the air distance and tilt between the mirrors. The presented method is a novel manufacturing and mounting technology for IR-telescope assemblies with diffraction limited optical performance in the MWIR
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