Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt

The “Optical Form and Wavefront Metrology" Working Group develops forward-looking novel measurement methods to allow essential components of optical imaging systems to be measured by optical methods with as low a measurement uncertainty as possible. Here, work is at present focussed on measurement methods to determine the form of optical functional surfaces as, for example, reflecting or lens surfaces which exhibit surface forms from flat surfaces to aspheres and free-form surfaces.

New developments are performed in close cooperation with industry and also realized in the form of novel measuring instruments, to allow customer-specific measurements and calibrations to be carried out for research and industry. The current measurement and calibration offer comprises, for example, the measurement of the flatness and sphericity of optical surfaces, wave aberrations of imaging systems, the refractive index of solid and liquid substances, the optical rotation of quartz control plates as well as the transmission of beam-shape-changing optical components.

New Deflectometric Flatness Measuring Systems

Extended Shear Angle Difference (ESAD) measuring facility for high-precision flatness measurement

Interferometric flatness and sphericity measurement

Form measurement of curved optical surfaces

Refractive index measurement

Transmission measurement on beam-shape-changing components

Polarimetric calibration of quartz control plates