Deflectometry is a powerful metrology technique that uses off-the-shelf equipment to achieve nanometer-level accuracy surface measurements. However, there is no portable device to quickly measure eyeglasses, lenses, or mirrors. We present an entirely portable new deflectometry technique that runs on any Android™ smartphone with a front-facing camera. Our technique overcomes some specific issues of portable devices like screen nonlinearity and automatic gain control. We demonstrate our application by measuring an amateur telescope mirror and simulating a measurement of the faulty Hubble Space Telescope primary mirror. Our technique can, in less than 1 min, measure surface errors with accuracy up to 50 nm RMS, simply using a smartphone.
Large telescope mirrors are typically measured using interferometry, which can achieve measurement accuracy of a few nanometers. However, applications of interferometry can be limited by small dynamic range, sensitivity to environment, and high cost. We have developed a range of surface measurement solutions using SCOTS, the Software Configurable Optical Test System, which illuminates the surface under test with light modulated from a digital display or moving source. The reflected light is captured and used to determine the surface slope which is integrated to provide the shape. A range of systems is presented that measures nearly all spatial scales and supports all phases of processing for large telescope mirrors.
A software configurable optical test system (SCOTS) based on deflectometry was developed at the University of Arizona for rapidly, robustly, and accurately measuring precision aspheric and freeform surfaces. SCOTS uses a camera with an external stop to realize a Hartmann test in reverse. With the external camera stop as the reference, a coordinate measuring machine can be used to calibrate the SCOTS test geometry to a high accuracy. Systematic errors from the camera are carefully investigated and controlled. Camera pupil imaging aberration is removed with the external aperture stop. Imaging aberration and other inherent errors are suppressed with an N -rotation test. The performance of the SCOTS test is demonstrated with the measurement results from a 5-m-diameter Large Synoptic Survey Telescope tertiary mirror and an 8.4-m diameter Giant Magellan Telescope primary mirror. The results show that SCOTS can be used as a large-dynamic-range, high-precision, and non-null test method for precision aspheric and freeform surfaces. The SCOTS test can achieve measurement accuracy comparable to traditional interferometric tests.
Methods developed to maximize the overall reflectance of the second-surface silvered glass used in concentrating solar power (CSP) and concentrating photovoltaics (CPV) solar systems are reported. The reflectance at shorter wavelengths is increased with the aid of a dielectric enhancing layer between the silver and the glass, while at longer wavelengths it is enhanced by
use of glass with negligible iron content. The calculated enhancement of reflectance, compared to unenhanced silver on standard low-iron float glass, corresponds to a 4.5% increase in reflectance averaged across the full solar spectrum, appropriate for CSP, and 3.5% for CPV systems using triple junction cells. An experimental reflector incorporating these improvements, of
drawn crown glass and a silvered second-surface with dielectric enhancement, was measured at National Renewable Energy Laboratory to have 95.4% solar weighted reflectance. For comparison, nonenhanced, wet-silvered reflectors of the same 4-mm thickness show reflectance ranging from 91.6% to 94.6%, depending on iron content. A potential drawback of using iron-free
drawn glass is reduced concentration in high concentration systems because of the inherent surface errors. This effect is largely mitigated for glass shaped by slumping into a concave mold, rather than by bending. Finally, an experiment capable of determining which junction limits the triple junction cell is demonstrated.
We present a fast and ambiguity-free method for slope measurement of reflective optical elements based on
reflectometry. This novel reflectometric method applies triangulation to compute the slope based off projected
patterns from an LCD screen, which are recorded by a camera. Accurate, ambiguity-free measurements can be
obtained by displaying one pixel at a time on the screen and retrieving its unique image. This process is typically
accelerated by scanning lines of pixels or encoding the information with phase using sinusoidal waves. Various
classes of solutions exist, centroiding and phase-shifting being the most accepted, but their sensitivities vary with
experimental conditions. This paper demonstrates solutions based on various parameters such as accuracy or
efficiency. The results are presented in a decision matrix and merit function. Additionally, we propose a new class of
solutions – Binary Square screens – in an attempt to address system limitations and compare current systems to our
solutions using the decision matrix. Several test conditions are proposed along with the best suited solution.
This paper reports methods developed to maximize the overall reflectance second-surface silvered glass. The reflectance
at shorter wavelengths is increased with the aid of a dielectric enhancing layer between the silver and the glass, while at
longer wavelengths it is enhanced by use of glass with negligible iron content. The calculated enhancement of reflectance,
compared to unenhanced silver on standard low-iron float glass, corresponds to a 4.4% increase in reflectance averaged
across the full solar spectrum, appropriate for CSP, and 2.7% for CPV systems using triple junction cells. An
experimental reflector incorporating these improvements, of drawn crown glass and a silvered second-surface with
dielectric boost, was measured at NREL to have 95.4% solar weighted reflectance. For comparison, non-enhanced, wetsilvered
reflectors of the same 4 mm thickness show reflectance ranging from 91.6 - 94.6%, depending on iron content. A
potential drawback of using iron-free drawn glass is reduced concentration in high concentration systems because of the
inherent surface errors. This effect is largely mitigated for glass shaped by slumping into a concave mold, rather than by
bending.
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