Workforce development challenges are affecting every manufacturing industry sector. Because the optics/photonics industry enables so many of them, it is especially critical that the optics technician pipeline is strengthened. Against the backdrop of the state of the industry based on the SPIE Global Optics and Photonics Salary Report, this moderated panel discussion will show how the AmeriCOM optics ecosystem model – in place in a growing number of regions across the country – benefits its member organizations. Representatives from optics manufacturing companies and community colleges will discuss how they work together to face and solve challenges and, in so doing, derive mutual benefits. Most importantly, the panel will also include members of the newest generation of optics technicians who will speak about their experiences entering into optics manufacturing as a career path and what they value about the positions they now hold.

The production of medium to large lenses (200 - 500 mm) is becoming increasingly important against the background of the semiconductor crisis. The value of a lens increases enormously through the entire value chain. The grinding, polishing and correction processes must be precisely coordinated in order to achieve highest levels of shape accuracy and surface finish. This leads to increasing demands with respect to the manufacturing equipment and processes. Not only a single step but the whole process chain needs to be addressed during optimization. It starts with the reduction of MSF errors during grinding and ends with well converging correction cycles during polishing. The very consequent design of ultra-precision grinding machines comprises hydrostatic bearings and a gantry-type machine base made from granite. The efficient pre-polishing of aspheres and freeforms demands for tools with high removal rates even at relatively small polishing spot sizes. The reliability and convergence of the correction cycles during polishing strongly depends on stable and predictable removal functions. For each step we identify the key challenges and introduce ways to meet them.

The growing interest in providing additional degrees of freedom to the design of high-end optical systems has led to an increased demand for freeform optical elements. The efficient fabrication of such elements requires a polishing process that provides high removal rates and a stable removal function while working with a relatively small spot size. Taking these constraints into consideration this paper focuses on the successful implementation of polishing processes applying the A-WPT (Advanced Wheel Polishing Tool) technology. In order to maintain perpendicularity towards the freeform surface to be polished, the A-WPT is run on a 6-axis machining system with an optimized kinematics set-up. Herein the use of a tip-tilt unit successfully suppresses the formation of singularities, e.g. close to the surface vortex when polishing along a raster tool path. First results for the pre-polishing of an off-axis parabolic surface made of Zerodur are analyzed and discussed.

The next generation of x-ray synchrotron systems require increasingly precise mirrors to enable diffraction limited focusing of x-ray beams. Due to the extremely short wavelength of the x-ray radiation, coated silicon mirrors must be used at grazing incidence to focus the x-ray beams. These mirrors need to be polished to nanometer level form error and are particularly susceptible to surface texture, including mid-spatial frequency (MSF) errors and surface roughness. Recognizing a gap in domestic production capability for this need, the United States Department of Energy funded Small Business Innovation Research contracts to improve US domestic manufacturing capabilities of these ultra-precision silicon mirrors. This paper will discuss efforts at Optimax to address this need through advancement of robotic smoothing platforms and processes. Flat test parts were ground then had a mirror surface fabricated through single point diamond turning (SPDT). The SPDT process leaves behind characteristic signatures in the surface texture which are detrimental to short wavelength applications. These parts were then smoothed using Optimax’s robotic smoothing platform to eliminate the SPDT signature. Multiple pad and slurry compositions were investigated to determine the optimal choice for each step in the process chain. Significant reduction in the MSF content was achieved, as well as sub- 0.3 nm rms surface roughness, meeting the specifications set out in the project solicitation. Ongoing work is being performed to improve the performance of the robotic smoothing process to address form error.

At Optifab 2021, the need to detect defects in optical glass during IQC, post cleaning, post coating and final QC was recognized as paramount. Throughout the industry, legions of inspectors perform manual inspection adding cost, constraining production and reducing yield/quality. In-line 100% automatic defect detection utilizing Solid-State Laser Reflection (SSLR) technology has been successfully applied to this challenge; defect detection to 1µm has been achieved, while concurrently solving the problems associated with conventional camera and laser systems including defect detection limitations, false hits, alignment problems and the ability to inspect curved optics. Since OptiFab 2021, Solid-State Laser Reflection (SSLR) technology has been successfully deployed in a variety of optical glass applications; Uncoated, Coated, Plano-Plano, Plano-Convex, and Spherical optics; both ISO and MIL compliant. System theory will be explained, and applications examples will be provided.

Position-velocity-time (PVT) is a motion mode supported by many modern motion controllers. It describes the motion with piecewise cubic polynomials, which results in smoother motion profiles. However, there is no PVT-based motion scheduler available for implementing dwell time in computer controlled optical surfacing (CCOS) applications. To fill this gap, we present a novel PVT-based motion scheduler constrained by the machine dynamics for CCOS. The principle of the proposed method is explained, followed by the verification of smoothness and accuracy with different type of tool paths. Finally, a PVT-based surface generation simulator is demonstrated.

We have demonstrated, for the first time to our knowledge, the simultaneous figuring and finishing of glass substrates using a femtosecond laser. Deterministic material removal with nanometer precision was achieved while maintaining optical surface quality (<1 nm RMS roughness). We have identified a metric that enables high-precision material removal and scaling up the material removal towards larger processing tasks and flexible geometrical features. The controllability of material removal was demonstrated using various laser parameter combinations. Furthermore, we created a four-step staircase structure to demonstrate the highly deterministic figuring and finishing process. The controllable femtosecond laser figuring with optical quality surface demonstrates a novel pathway for precision figuring and finishing of optics.

Many advanced applications require high throughput, high removal rate processing of silicon and polysilicon materials with very low surface roughness. This presentation will focus on the latest consumable sets for processing silicon and polysilicon to achieve high removal rate and very low surface roughness. We will present the polishing results using double sided polishing tools from different consumables showing the effects of changing slurries, pads and cleaning chemistry on polishing results. This presentation present data on current generation and next generation consumables to show how the optimization of new slurries and pads can achieve high removal rate and very low surface roughness.

This paper presents plano-convex cylindrical lens measurements employing a novel dual-probe system integrating two chromatic confocal probes with a single spectrometric sensor. Collecting data serially from the probes, the system outputs top and bottom surface point clouds without unseating the optic. Point cloud analysis results in radius of curvature, center thickness, and total thickness variation measurements of the profiled region. Alignment methods reduce XYZ positional errors and verified through reversal error methods.

Microscopy is one of the most widely non-contact measurement techniques used in industry today. The most important component in microscopy is the illumination and imaging numerical aperture (NA) because it sets the final limits and capabilities of the microscopy system. A wrong numerical aperture value will affect the measurement of surface profiles. Large NA objectives measure smaller heights and are not able to reach the lateral resolution that they should. In this research we propose a new experimental NA calibration method to resolve the abovementioned issues on objectives with NAs of 0.1-0.95. The presented method is attractive since it does not require an external setup but calibrates the objective within the microscope and it is simple to implement. The results of experimental measurements with the commercial microscope objectives Nikon, Mitutoyo and ZEISS are presented in this study.

Despite (thin) Plane-Parallel Optics are present in most of our optronics consumer goods, research optical setups or industrial systems, the metrology of such optical components remains challenging. This is principally because having parallel front and back surfaces makes it difficult to filter optical signal coming from each diopter. In the specific case of Fizeau interferometers arrangements for example, fringe pattern generated by the three-beam interference is not suitable for precise surface shape reconstruction of the sample of interest. Imagine Optic has developed and patented a new approach that brings easy access to the optical testing of such samples, based on the combination of incoherent light and Shack Hartmann wavefront sensing. We will present the technique principle and how it works as implemented in a metrology system we called MESO. We will report the validation process of the approach and showcase results on real samples highlighting the advantages of the technique.

Diffractive waveguides for Augmented Reality (AR) are often stacks of 2 or 3 single waveguides, with each individual waveguide designed for 1 or 2 narrow-band wavelength bands. For best image quality, the optical axes of all elements of the waveguide stack must coincide to well below 1 arcmin for all 3 RGB colors, otherwise chromatic aberration effects at edges occur, severely reducing the image quality for the user. Therefore,1) the optical axis of each waveguide in the stack must be characterized after manufacturing and compatible sets of waveguides must be matched; 2) the stacking process must not introduce tilt errors. Metrology solutions for both 1) and 2) and the effect of errors on the image quality of the finished waveguide will be presented.

This conference presentation was prepared for SPIE Optifab, 2023.

More than ever, companies are pursuing the goal of displaying their production in a digital twin. This allows problems in production to be clarified and process difficulties to be made visible. The goal is usually achieved via machine or process data. The machine data describes data that is collected around the machine, whereas the process data strongly refers to the quality of the process and the resulting outcome. In order to generate added value for the user, it is necessary to draw correlations between data and criteria that are important for the customer, such as the quality and accuracy of the components to be manufactured. In this context, it is shown to what extent the process data are interrelated with the component data.

The automation of production steps is increasingly in focus due to the shortage of skilled workers. In addition to the handling of lenses and the automatic processing of lenses, the automated adjustment of process parameters is particularly necessary. Conventionally, this is done by means of feedback through the metrological recording of the manufactured component. Based on an evaluation by a specialist, the necessary parameters are then adjusted. Thus, in addition to fully automated production, fully automated evaluation and feedback is also an important topic on the way to controlled production. However, the problem here is the automated feedback of measured values to individual process parameters, which are usually only known in the minds of the operators. In the following a concept is presented, which shows the coupling of the individual machine types as well as measuring instruments, in order to make a linkage possible on the hardware side. In addition, the feedback or correlation between machine parameters and measured values is shown in order to finally achieve the possibility of automated compensation.

We present gradient-index optical coating technology and show that anti-reflective coatings with extremely low reflectance (< 0.2%) over wide bandwidth (400-1050 nm) can be deposited at low-temperature (≤ 100°C) with a total coating thickness of < 150 nm in large-scale (> 6 m2) batch configuration. In addition, we demonstrate that this optical performance can be maintained at angles of incidence up to 50°, a performance that cannot be matched with traditional optical coatings utilized in the optics industry.

LightPath Technologies scales up chalcogenide glass for optics production. Understanding fabrication effects on refractive index and ensuring repeatability are crucial. They employ TRIOPTICS OptiSurf LTM system to investigate refractive variability. This system uses low-coherence interferometry to measure lens thickness and air gaps. Direct measurement requires group index knowledge for geometric thickness determination. TRIOPTICS GmbH addresses this with LensGage, an OptiSurf addon. LensGage consists of calibrated parallel plates, accurately determining geometric thickness and group index (+/-0.75nm and 0.0001 precision) in a single measurement at 1.31µm or 2.2µm. LensGage enables LightPath to improve quality and consistency of fabricated optics by enhancing their understanding of group index variability.

This presentation highlights the benefits of implementing VARODRY vacuum technology and the application support and optical application specific know-how Leybold can provide.

As optics and photonics-enable technologies increasingly dominate our lives, the demand for diamond turning technicians has grown significantly across the United States. A quick search on indeed.com shows diamond turning technician openings from Florida to California to New Hampshire to Rochester, New York. Monroe Community College (MCC) in Rochester, NY offered the nation’s first Optical Systems Technology program and to address the critical need for diamond turning technicians, now includes diamond turning in its curriculum. Learn about MCC’s innovative 40-hour diamond turning workshop and how the workshop has propelled students into their careers.

Integrated photonics represents a fast-growing market targeting an increasing number of stakeholders and application fields. With its fabrication platform for advanced integrated photonic components in glass, FEMTOprint can produce high-precision optical and opto-mechanical connectors monolithically aligned with micro-optical elements within a single fabrication process. Therefore, no extra alignment is required and all optical elements can be positioned with sub-micron precision. We will present examples of the most common building blocks used for Integrated Photonics Circuits, i.e. fiber inlets for passive alignment, optical 3D waveguides as well as micro-optical elements for beam shaping such as micro-lenses and micro-mirrors.