Advances in the design of freeform systems for imaging and illumination applications

Abstract

Freeform optical surfaces are getting increasingly popular in imaging and illumination systems. A review of recent advances in the optimization, surface description and testing of freeform surfaces is given. We compare the tools being developed for imaging as well as illumination systems and shown, that while the key problems are similar the current tools and methods are often specific for the application. In both fields we will give an impression about the current status and the main remaining problems associated with freeform systems. Moreover we present current research in the area of phase space optics and recent new methods for interferometric testing of freeform surfaces.