home > solutions > improved, lower cost optics

An increasing number of commercial and military applications require high performance optics in variety of applications. The Department of Defense and the National Security Agency, for example, require specialized non-axisymmetric optics for surveillance satellites and telescopes. In addition to complex lens and mirror shapes, these applications require that the optical components be of lighter weight to aid in satellite launching and guidance, have more precise contours and surface finishes for higher image resolution, while simultaneously costing less to accommodate the large number of applications in which they will be used.

PVI is developing specialized metrology instrumentation designed specifically for the manufacture of non-axisymmetric optics. The PVI system will be used as a process-intermittent tool to control the figuring of ultra-precision non-axisymmetric optics (ranging from off-axis parabaloids to free-form surfaces), and finally as a device for confirming the final figure of the finished optic. More conventional (e.g., interferometric, stitched interferometric) solutions are not possible with the subject applications; the departures from sphericity are simply too large.

The new instrument is a practical device that can be used either as a shop-floor instrument for process control, or a laboratory instrument for final certification. The system can accomodate virtually any useful departure from sphericity, and can be designed to address the issue of the simultaneous measurement of both surfaces of refractive optics.

PVI's metrology system will ultimately have significant commercial utility. As consumer-oriented optical systems become more complex, the demand for non-axisymmetric optical surfaces will grow. The laws of physics dictate that alternative solutions (such as PVI's) be developed and incorporated into mass production.