The accurate and traceable form measurement of optical surfaces has been greatly advanced by a new generation of surface profilometers which are based on the reflection of light at the surface and the measurement of the reflection angle. For this application, high-resolution electronic autocollimators provide accurate and traceable angle metrology. In recent years, great progress has been made at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in autocollimator calibration. For an advanced autocollimator characterisation, a novel calibration device has been built up at PTB: the Spatial Angle Autocollimator Calibrator (SAAC). The system makes use of an innovative Cartesian arrangement of three autocollimators (two reference autocollimators and the autocollimator to be calibrated), which allows a precise measurement of the angular orientation of a reflector cube. Each reference autocollimator is sensitive primarily to changes in one of the two relevant tilt angles, whereas the autocollimator to be calibrated is sensitive to both. The distance between the reflector cube and the autocollimator to be calibrated can be varied flexibly. In this contribution, we present the SAAC and aspects of the mathematical modelling of the system for deriving analytical expressions for the autocollimators’ angle responses. These efforts will allow advancing the form measurement substantially with autocollimator-based profilometers and approaching fundamental measurement limits. Additionally, they will help manufacturers of autocollimators to improve their instruments and will provide improved angle measurement methods for precision engineering.

Date Published: 13 May 2013
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 8789, Modeling Aspects in Optical Metrology IV, 87890D (13 May 2013); doi: 10.1117/12.2020279

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8789:
Modeling Aspects in Optical Metrology IV
Bernd Bodermann; Karsten Frenner; Richard M. Silver, Editor(s)