Convex Aspherical Surface Testing Using Catadioptric Partial Compensating System

Abstract

Aspheric optical components are the indispensable part of modern optics systems. With the constant development of aspheric optical fabrication technique, the systems with large aperture convex aspheric optical components are widely used in astronomy and space optics. Thus, the measurement of the figure error of the whole convex aspherical surface with high precision comes to be a challenge in the area of optical surface manufacture, and surface testing method is also very important. This paper presents a new partial compensating system by the combination of a refractive lens and a reflective mirror for testing convex aspherical surface. The refractive lens is used to compensate the aberration of the tested convex asphere partially. The reflective mirror is a spherical mirror which is coaxial to the refractive lens and reflecting the lights reflected by the tested convex asphere back to the convex asphere itself. With the long focal length and large aperture system we can realize a lighter and more compact system than the refractive partial compensating system because the spheric reflective mirror is more easily to realize and can bending the light conveniently.