Institute for Material Science Research School for Additive Manufacturing Projects
Non-destructive optical characterization of microoptical systems

Non-destructive optical characterization of microoptical systems

Year:  2020
Funding:  Lower Saxony Ministry for Science and Culture
Supervisor:PD Dr. Merve Wollweber
Co-Supervisor:
Projekt ID:8
Location:Laser Zentrum Hannover e. V. (LZH)

Motivation 

The Additive Manufacturing of microoptical systems allows the efficient realization of novel optical structures. For the further development and improvement of manufacturing processes and optical designs, a comprehensive characterization of the manufactured components is necessary. To date, destructive methods or functional tests are the only options available for optical characterization. However, there is a great need for new, non-destructive methods for the three-dimensional characterization of optical components.    

Objectives

The aim of the project is to develop a non-destructive optical characterization method for additively manufactured microoptical systems. Tomographic (scanning laser optical tomography (SLOT)), optical coherence tomography (OCT), holographic microscopy), chemometric (Raman spectroscopy) and function-analytical methods (attenuation measurement) will be applied, evaluated and transferred into a combined characterization method. From the comparison of measured tomographic data and numerical models, an evaluation of the real local refractive index of additively manufactured three-dimensional sample structures will be derived.