刀具对中误差对离轴抛物面镜慢刀伺服车削加工的影响

离轴抛物面镜单件高效加工是离轴三反消像散(TMA)结构光学系统的技术难点之一.单点金刚石慢刀伺服车削加工技术可用于离轴非球面加工,加工尺寸范围较大,加工精度较高.此工艺制造的离轴抛物面面型精度可达到亚微米级,粗糙度达到纳米级.因此,可直接用于红外光学应用,若经后续抛光则可用于空间望远镜等更高精度需求的场合.介绍了慢刀伺服车削加工离轴抛物面镜的在轴加工方法,理论推导了刀具对中误差所带来的面形误差的极值分布规律.仿真研究进一步揭示了工件中心区域面形误差的详细分布.实验数据与理论结果和仿真计算结果均吻合.     

Energy flow of electric dipole radiation in between parallel mirrors

We have studied the energy flow patterns of the radiation emitted by an electric dipole located in between parallel mirrors. It appears that the field lines of the Poynting vector (the flow lines of energy) can have very intricate structures, including many singularities and vortices. The flow line patterns depend on the distance between the mirrors, the distance of the dipole to one of the mirrors and the angle of oscillation of the dipole moment with respect to the normal of the mirror surfaces. Already for the simplest case of a dipole moment oscillating perpendicular to the mirrors, singularities appear at regular intervals along the direction of propagation (parallel to the mirrors). For a parallel dipole, vortices appear in the neighbourhood of the dipole. For a dipole oscillating under a finite angle with the surface normal, the radiating tends to swirl around the dipole before travelling off parallel to the mirrors. For relatively large mirror separations, vortices appear in the pattern. When the dipole is off-centred with respect to the midway point between the mirrors, the flow line structure becomes even more complicated, with numerous vortices in the pattern, and tiny loops near the dipole. We have also investigated the locations of the vortices and singularities, and these can be found without any specific knowledge about the flow lines. This provides an independent means of studying the propagation of dipole radiation between mirrors.     

Ultrashort intense-field optical vortices produced with laser-etched mirrors

We introduce a simple and practical method to create ultrashort intense optical vortices for applications involving high-intensity lasers. Our method utilizes femtosecond laser pulses to laser etch grating lines into laser-quality gold mirrors. These grating lines holographically encode an optical vortex. We derive mathematical equations for each individual grating line to be etched, for any desired (integer) topological charge. We investigate the smoothness of the etched grooves. We show that they are smooth enough to produce optical vortices with an intensity that is only a few percent lower than in the ideal case. We demonstrate that the etched gratings can be used in a folded version of our 2f-2f setup [Opt. Express 19, 7599 (2005)] to compensate angular dispersion. Finally, we show that the etched gratings withstand intensities of up to 10(12) W/cm(2).     

Machining and metrology systems for free-form laser printer mirrors

A major challenge in optics is to make optical components like mirrors and lenses smaller and cheaper. This is achieved by designing optical components that have conformal or free-form shapes. A free-form optic is defined as one that is not symmetrical about any axis. These highly demanding requirements are met by single point diamond machining in rigid ultra precision machine tools.     

EFFECT OF TOOL WEAR AND TOOL SETTING ON PROFILE ACCURACY OF DIAMOND-TURNED NONFERROUS COMPONENTS

Diamond turning technology has gained great importance in high-precision optical component fabrication. The quality of machined optical surfaces is mainly affected by the machine tool's accuracy, cutting tool's quality, and dynamic machining effects. This study investigated the effects of cutting tool conditions and tool set-up error on the surface distortion. Controlled cutting tests were performed on a two-axis diamond turning machine. Spherical mirrors with preset tool offset values and tool height values were turned. The relationship among machined form accuracy, tool offset, and tool height was investigated based on experimental and analytical results. The influence of tool wear on machined surface quality was studied. Factors governing uneven wear along the cutting edge in contour machining were analyzed. A spherical surface with a form accuracy better than λ/10 was produced. Methods for minimizing the effect of tool wear are also discussed.     

光学微结构的超精密加工技术

微结构光学元件在光电产品及光通讯产品中的应用日益广泛，采用多轴超精密机床加工光学微结构，可达到亚微米级形状精度和纳米级表面光洁度的高精度水平，详细介绍了光学自由曲面及光学微结构的超精密加工技术，并开发了适合超精加工微型槽和微透镜列阵的刀具轨迹自动生成软件。     

Surface finish requirements for soft x-ray mirrors

We have examined the correlations between direct surface-finish metrology techniques and normalincidence, soft x-ray reflectance measurements of highly polished x-ray multilayer mirrors. We find that, to maintain high reflectance, the rms surface roughness of these mirrors must be less than ~ 1 ? over the range of spatial frequencies extending approximately from 1 to 100 μm(-1)1 (i.e., spatial wavelengths from 1 μm to 10 nm). This range of spatial frequencies is accessible directly only through scanning-probe metrology. Because the surface-finish Fourier spectrum of such highly polished mirrors is described approximately by an inverse power law (unlike a conventional surface), bandwidth-limited rms roughness values measured with instruments that are sensitive to only lower spatial frequencies (i.e., optical or stylus profileres) are generally uncorrelated with the soft x-ray reflectance and can lead to erroneous conclusions regarding the expected performance of substrates for x-ray mirrors.     

Producing optical vortices through forked holographic grating: study of polarization

It is important to know what happens to initial polarization during the formation of optical vortices. We use a computer-generated forked holographic grating to produce optical vortices in the laboratory and study changes in polarization, introduced by the grating, which generates optical vortices in its diffracted orders. The Mueller matrix has been used to quantify changes in the polarization in diffracted orders containing optical vortices. Decomposition of the Mueller matrices estimates the polarizing properties, such as diattenuation, retardance and depolarization of the system. We find that the system is a non-depolarizing system. The study also shows that spin and the orbital angular momentum of photons are not coupled in this process.     

Optical phase singularities in detection of laser beam collimation

Optical phase singularities, also called optical vortices, are known to have applications in various branches of optics. Here the role played by optical vortices in collimation testing is explained. Interference and a diffractive experimental setup in which the presence of an optical vortex permits collimation testing are presented. It is shown that the moire fringes that aid in collimation detection are due solely to the presence of vortices and not to the accompanying phase factors that are involved in producing a grating structure.     

Optical Replacement of pH Electrode

The development of a noninvasive, self-contained optical pH sensor probe intended as a direct replacement for a pH electrode is presented. It uses a fluorescent excitation-ratiometric pH sensing dye in a patch. The patch is excited by light emitting diodes of differing wavelengths which are controlled by a microcontroller (MCU). The emission levels are measured by analog circuitry and their ratio is converted by the MCU into a linear output which mirrors that of a conventional pH electrode. The optical sensor readings were consistent with readings from a glass pH electrode with average difference .061 pH. This sensor allows noninvasive, low-cost optical pH sensing with the ability to interface with existing pH monitoring equipment.      

Optical design of freeform two-mirror beam-shaping systems

The problem of design of a two-mirror optical system for reshaping the irradiance distribution of a laser beam in a prescribed manner is considered in the geometrical optics approximation. The presented design equations are derived in a rigorous manner and are applicable to two-mirror optical systems not limited to radiance profiles and beam cross sections that are rotational or rectangular symmetric. The resulting mirrors are free-form surfaces not restricted by a priori constraints. Moreover, the presented approach shows also that even in the general case two different designs are available for the same data. In one of these designs the first mirror is always concave and the second is convex, while in the second design the resulting mirrors may be neither convex nor concave. Since, in general, the surface mirrors are aspherical, the availability of a design with convex and concave mirrors is particularly important for fabrication.     

Hybrid optical (freeform) components--functionalization of nonplanar optical surfaces by direct picosecond laser ablation

The performance of optical systems is typically improved by increasing the number of conventionally fabricated optical components (spheres, aspheres, and gratings). This approach is automatically connected to a system enlargement, as well as potentially higher assembly and maintenance costs. Hybrid optical freeform components can help to overcome this trade-off. They merge several optical functions within fewer but more complex optical surfaces, e.g., elements comprising shallow refractive/reflective and high-frequency diffractive structures. However, providing the flexibility and precision essential for their realization is one of the major challenges in the field of optical component fabrication. In this article we present tailored integrated machining techniques suitable for rapid prototyping as well as the fabrication of molding tools for low-cost mass replication of hybrid optical freeform components. To produce the different feature sizes with optical surface quality, we successively combine mechanical machining modes (ultraprecision micromilling and fly cutting) with precisely aligned direct picosecond laser ablation in an integrated fabrication approach. The fabrication accuracy and surface quality achieved by our integrated fabrication approach are demonstrated with profilometric measurements and experimental investigations of the optical performance.     

高精度抛物面镜光轴偏角分析仪

针对大数值孔径旋转抛物面反射镜对倾斜入射光线较大的散焦和离焦问题,本文设计一种用于大数值孔径旋转抛物面反射镜光轴偏角测量的系统,用于对大数值孔径旋转抛物面反射镜光轴与结构轴的校准.该方法根据旋转抛物面反射镜成像原理,采用CCD 作为成像器件,分析轴偏所带来的光斑偏移量.实验结果表明,系统达到偏角角度分辨率0.06 ′,最大可测角度3.65 ′,该参数可以满足抛物面反射镜用作接收光学系统的应用.     

Generalized Raytracing and Applications

The paper deals with an enlargement of the common raytracing algorithm. It allows a simultaneous handling of all rays in an infinitesimal neighbourhood of a given ray. The method can be used for calculating the astigmatic foci of wavefronts and for direct computation of derivatives of transverse ray aberrations and wave aberrations with respect to parameters of the system. The formulae are sufficiently general to handle optical systems without rotational symmetry and with aspheric lenses and mirrors.     

High-power efficient multiple optical vortices in a single beam generated by a kinoform-type spiral phase plate

We propose using a solitary kinoform-type spiral phase plate structure to generate an array of vortices located in a single beam. Kinoform-type spiral surfaces allow each wavelength component of the phase modulation value to be wrapped back to its 2 pi equivalent for optical vortices of high charge. This allows the surface-relief profiles of high-charge vortices to be microfabricated with the same physical height as spiral phase plates of unity-charged optical vortices. The m-charged optical vortex obtained interacts with the inherent coherent background, which changes the propagation dynamics of the optical vortex and splits the initial m charge into /m/ unity-charged optical vortices within the same beam. Compared to a hologram, a multistart spiral phase plate is more efficient in the use of available spatial frequencies and beam energy and also is computationally less demanding. Furthermore, using microfabrication techniques will allow for greater achievable tolerances in terms of smaller feature sizes.     

Analytical expressions for optimum alignment modes of highly segmented mirrors

The major sources causing deterioration of optical quality in extremely large optical telescopes are misadjustments of the mirrors, deformations of monolithic mirrors and misalignments of segments in segmented mirrors. For active optics corrections, all three errors, which can partially compensate each other, are measured simultaneously. It is therefore of interest to understand the similarities and differences between the three corresponding types of modes which describe these errors. The first two types are best represented by Zernike polynomials and elastic modes respectively, both of them being continuous and smooth functions. The segment misalignment modes, which are derived by singular value decomposition, are by their nature not smooth and in general discontinuous. However, for mirrors with a large number of segments, the lowest modes become effectively both smooth and continuous. This paper derives analytical expressions for these modes, using differential operators and their adjoints, for the limit case of infinitesimally small segments. For segmented mirrors with approximately 1000 segments, it is shown that these modes agree well with the corresponding lowest singular value decomposition modes. Furthermore, the analytical expressions reveal the nature of the segment misalignment modes and allow for a detailed comparison with the elastic modes of monolithic mirrors. Some mathematical features emerge as identical in the two cases.     

Design of X-ray supermirrors

A new approach is proposed for the design of wide band-pass multilayer optical elements operating in the hard X-ray spectral region. The method, based on the combination of analytical and numerical methods, solves the inverse problem consisting of inferring the composition profile of a depth-graded multilayer coating. The key feature of our approach consists in using an analytical expression for the depth-distribution of the period as initial solution for direct computer calculations. This allows a global minimization of the merit function and a many-fold decrease of the computer run time. Simulations of two particular cases are presented: a constant reflectivity over a wide spectral range and a complicated reflectivity profile. The best choice of material pairs for composing a depth-graded multilayer structure is discussed from the viewpoint of maximum achievable reflectivity and least number of bi-layers. Features of depth-graded multilayer mirrors, which are distinctive from conventional periodic mirrors, are examined. The factors influencing the optical quality of broad-band multilayers are also considered.     

Generation of optical vortices with an adaptive helical mirror

Generation of optical vortices using a new design of adaptive helical mirror (AHM) is reported. The new AHM is a reflective device that can generate an optical vortex of any desired topological charge, both positive and negative, within its breakdown limits. The most fascinating feature of the AHM is that the topological charge of the optical vortex generated with it can be changed in real time by varying the excitation voltage. Generation of optical vortices up to topological charge 4 has been demonstrated. The presence of a vortex in the optical field generated with the AHM is confirmed by producing both fork and spiral fringes in an interferometric setup. Various design improvements to further enhance the performance of the reported AHM are discussed. Some of the important applications of AHM are also listed.     

Method for the synthesis of semitransparent wide band dielectric mirrors

A general method for the numerical design of wide band dielectric mirrors with non-zero transmission is given. The values of the optical parameters for twenty mirrors designed by this method are presented and discussed.