In our Letter, two kinds of handwriting traces, colored and colorless, are studied by means of reflectance transformation imaging. The illumination direction and rendering mode can be changed alternatively to obtain two-dimensional and three-dimensional details of the traces that are not recognized easily by naked eyes. Furthermore, an objective evaluation method without reference is applied to evaluate the reconstructed images, which provides a basis for setting the illumination direction and rendering mode. Therefore, the handwriting trace information including the written content, the writing features, and the stroke order features can be obtained objectively and accurately.

In this Letter, a test method based on oblique incidence is practically implemented in the interferometric measurement process. Three sets of wavefront data are achieved through cavity interference measurement with a Fizeau interferometer and one oblique incidence measurement. An iterative algorithm is applied to retrieve the absolute surface shape of the test flat. By adding two sets of measurements, the absolute surface error of the interferometer’s reference flat can be obtained. The new method can not only calibrate the reference flat error of interferometer, but also provide the absolute measurement method for high precision optical components applied in high power laser systems.

This Letter demonstrates a novel lateral shear interferometer system for simultaneous measurement of three-dimensional (3D) shape and thickness of transparent objects. Multi-frequency fringe patterns can be created by tilting mirrors at different inclination angles. With a single camera, the multi-frequency fringes are recorded in one image. The phase-shift of the fringes can be generated synchronously only by moving a plane-parallel plate along an in-plane parallel direction. According to the feature of transparent materials, the thickness and 3D shape can be reconstructed simultaneously based on the relationship between the in-plane displacement and their characteristics. The experiment was conducted on a thin transparent film subjected to a shearing force, which verifies the feasibility of the proposed system.

The role of chirp on the light–matter interaction of femto- and pico-second laser pulses with functional structured surfaces is studied using drag-reducing riblets as an example. The three-dimensional, periodic microstructure naturally gives rise to a mutual interplay of (i) reflection, (ii) scattering, and (iii) diffraction phenomena of incident coherent light. Furthermore, for femtosecond pulses, the structure induces (iv) an optical delay equivalent to a consecutive temporal delay of 230 fs in places of the pulse. These features enable studying experimentally and numerically the effect of tuning both pulse duration τ and spectral bandwidth Δω on the features of the wide-angle scattering pattern from the riblet structure. As a result, we discovered a significant breakdown of fringes in the scattering pattern with decreasing pulse duration and/or increasing spectral bandwidth. This unique type of chirp control is straightforwardly explained and verified by numerical modeling considering the spectral and temporal interaction between different segments within the scattered, linearly chirped pulse and the particular geometric features of the riblet structure. The visibility of the fringe pattern can be precisely adjusted, and the off-state is achieved using τ<230 fs or Δω>2.85×1013 rad/s.

A method based on slope stitching for measurement of a large off-axis parabolic trough collector is proposed and applied to the surface shape reconstructed from the gradient data acquired by using the reverse Hartmann test. The entire reflector is divided into three sections with overlapping zones along the concentration direction. A mathematical model for the slope stitching algorithm is developed. An improved reconstruction method combining Zernike slope polynomials iterative fitting with the Southwell integration algorithm is utilized to recover the real three-dimensional (3D) shape of the collector. The efficiency and validity of the improved reconstruction method and the stitching algorithm are experimentally verified.

In this study, an improved phase-shifting diffraction interferometer for measuring the surface topography of a microsphere is developed. A common diode-pumped solid state laser is used as the light source to facilitate apparatus realization, and a new polarized optical arrangement is designed to filter the bias light for phase-shifting control. A pinhole diffraction self-calibration method is proposed to eliminate systematic errors introduced by optical elements. The system has an adjustable signal contrast and is suitable for testing the surface with low reflectivity. Finally, a spherical ruby probe of a coordinate measuring machine is used as an example tested by the new phase-shifting diffraction interferometer system and the WYKO scanning white light interferometer for experimental comparison. The measured region presents consistent overall topography features, and the resulting peak-to-valley value of 84.43 nm and RMS value of 18.41 nm are achieved. The average roughness coincides with the manufacturer’s specification value.

A real-time monitoring system is set up based on a computer, dynamic interferometer, beam expanding system, and a beam reflecting system. The stability and repeatability of the monitoring system is verified. A workpiece and a glass monitoring plate are placed in the same ring. The surface figure of the workpiece, monitored by the monitoring plate, synchronizes with the surface of the glass monitoring plate in terms of peak–valley and power. The influence of the reflection and transmission surface are discussed in theory and a numeral deviation in online and offline testing data is quantitatively analyzed. The new method provides a quick and easy real-time method to characterize changes to the optical surface during polishing.