Happy Holiday
All of us at ESDI wish you a happy holiday and thank you for being our customers. We wish you a prosperous and successful year in 2007.
This newsletter will be our last for the year. As always, we hope you will find useful information for your metrology needs. Enjoy!

Intellium Z100 HR
A major step up in aspheric optics measurement. Intellium Z100 HR is the highest resolution 100mm Fizeau interferometer available on the market. The high resolution camera of 1.5kx2k pixels allows this instrument to measure large slope angles in transmission and reflection. Vibration-insensitive acquisition is supported by IntelliPhase, which is one of the many FREE versatile features inside IntelliWave. This new model of the Intellium Z100 maintains the compactness of its original design; making this instrument the smallest in its class. It can be easily mounted and integrated into larger systems. Rest assured the Intellium Z100 HR is backed up by a wide variety of accessories and complete technical support from ESDI.

One Day IntelliWave Refresher Workshop in San Jose, California on Friday, 26 Jan 2007 (concurrently with Photonics West 2007) for $495
Attend this workshop to explore the many new functionalities inside the latest version of IntelliWave. Learn many useful and advanced features such as wedge measurement, automatic PZT calibration, IntelliPhase, IntelliTrack, verifying the quality of your transmission spheres, and more. The workshop will be led by Raymond Castonguay. In this workshop you will also be introduced to our new IntelliStitch software. This software allows stitching together multiple aperture measurements for large optics (larger than your interferometer aperture).
Enhance your interferometric measurement knowledge through this workshop and please stop by at our Booth #414 at Photonics West to find the latest metrology instruments.
 

Tips & Tricks
Wedge Measurement
A Fizeau type interferometer is probably the best to measure small wedge angles of optical elements. There are two options for this kind of measurements: in transmission and in reflection. Both of them require use of a reference surface. Typically a flat mirror or other flat reflective surface can be used for this purpose. The reference plane should be large enough to create an easily recognizable area in the final phase map. The reference should be mounted in front of the interferometer on a tip-tilt stage and adjusted in such a way that ideally the interference fringes from the reference are nulled (it is ok to have few fringes in the field of view).

In case of wedge measurement of a transparent part the measurement is done in transmission while the measured element is placed between the reference surface and the interferometer. The reflection from the front and back surface of the measured part should be eliminated by tilting it slightly so that the reflections are just outside the interferometer’s acceptance angle. A tilt of the wavefront inside the area of the object with respect to the reference corresponds to the optical wedge in the measured part. In order to obtain the value of the geometrical wedge it is necessary to take into account the fact that light refracts in the element, so information about refractive index of the material at the wavelength at which the measurement was taken is necessary.

To measure wedge of an opaque element, the measurement is done in reflection. The reference should be adjusted as before and the back surface of the measured part is placed in contact with the reference surface. By doing this we assure that the back surface is parallel to the reference. The tilt angle of the wavefront obtained for the measured part with respect to the reference is directly proportional to the geometrical wedge angle of the measured element.

The IntelliWave software provides full support for both types of measurements. The wedge calculations can be completely customized and automated. In that respect, the IntelliWave offers many additional options including operations on multiple regions, proper scaling, use of real units and much more.
 

Upcoming Events
Mark your calendar for IntelliWave Training in 2007. Re-sharpen your interferometric measurement & analysis skills. Learn more about the new features in IntelliWave and see how it can 'boost' the quality of your measurement analysis and productivity.
- 26 Jan: 1-Day IntelliWave Refresher Workshop, San Jose, California
- 16-19 Apr: 4-Day, Tucson, Arizona
- 9-12 Jul: 4-Day, Tucson, Arizona
- 15-18 Oct: 4-Day, Tucson, Arizona
 
Visit us at the following exhibitions:
- BIOS 20-21 Jan 2007, San Jose, California, USA. Booth # 8414
- Photonics West 23-25 Jan 2007, San Jose, California, USA. Booth # 414.
  Product Demo: IntelliWave 2007