Characterize surfaces of glass, optics, lenses, mirrors

Surface topography of optics, glass & transparent materials

Quality and manufacturing productivity of components such as lenses, mirrors, and optical elements are ensured by measuring form and roughness parameters down to the sub-nanometer level. Everything is achieved with a high efficiency to safeguard manufacturing throughput.

Find efficient measurement and testing solutions for quality inspection of optics, glass or other transparent materials within the range of TopMap optical surface metrology. Optical profilers by Polytec are flexible and easy-to-use inspection systems for measuring thickness, determining form parameters like flatness, step-height, or parallelism — fast and with nanometer precision.

Polytec also offers custom solutions depending on your roughness, distance, or thickness requirements. Benefit from high precision with sub-nanometer resolution data or large-area scanning to cover larger samples, or even multiple samples in one shot. Fast measurements meet high repeatability: Inline, on production level and in the lab.

Measure lenses and mirrors
Design freeform optics
Check Diffractive Optical Elements (DOE)
Inspect laser and other optical equipment

Surface profilers for optical components

Macro Profiler

Pro.Surf inspects flatness, step height and parallelism on large parts and multi-part trays — non-contact, in seconds. No-crash telecentric optics measure even into bores, with the precision and repeatability production demands.

Micro Profiler

Micro.View profiler systems are optimized for measurements with sub-nanometer resolution. With focused optics and high vertical resolution they enable detailed analysis of microstructures, surface finish and material distribution where even the smallest deviations matter.

Measure form, flatness & roughness on lenses, optics, mirrors

Measure surface form parameters, evaluate flatness or step height on optical components, glass, and transparent media. TopMap surface profilers allow for complete and fast inspections of lenses, optics, freeform optics, or mirrors for design optimization and quality control in manufacturing. Transparent materials such as optics, mirrors, or lenses are challenging to measure due to their sensitivity to scratches or defects (tactile measurement) and reflectivity (optical measurement). Avoid scratches and the influence of tactile measurement tips by using non-contact optical measurement technology. Large-area topography scanning of Polytec enables the capture of entire workpieces or larger areas in one shot. The elaborated SST Smart Scanning Technology also handles with measuring different and challenging surface reflectivities, providing reliable measurement performance on dull, matte, coated, and shiny surfaces.

Hand holding a transparent optical lens with a colorful 3D surface topography map for precision measurement.

Typical optics measurement tasks and "optical applications" for white-light interferometers

Flatness measurement of mirrors
Complete 3D characterization of lenses and freeform optics
Warpage measurement on thin films or layers
Layer thickness measurement
Separated inspection of form, waviness, and texture
Roughness and microstructure analysis in the sub-nm range
Defect detection and evaluation in scratch testing
Step height measurement on precision mechanics such as mirror and lens holders
Form tolerance check of optical precision equipment (lasers, interferometers, etc.)
Combined measurement of Flatness-Thickness-Parallelism of top and bottom surface in one shot

3D topography scan of an optical lens with detailed surface height data in a color-coded heatmap for precision analysis. — Fast and complete 3D topography measurement of optics, lenses, freeform optics providing large area and high resolution data

3D polynomial freeform surface topography with color-coded elevation map for precise optical component analysis by Polytec. — 3D characterization of polynomial freeform

High-resolution 3D topography map of a microprism array showing precise surface form and roughness data for optical component analysis. — High-resolution topography data of optics, here shown for a microprism array

3D surface topography map detecting scratches and defects on optical glass with areal roughness analysis Sa, Sq, Sz by Polytec profiler. — Scratch and defect detection on optics and lenses, evaluating areal roughness Sa, Sq, Sz instead of Ra, Rq, Rz

Characterizing small details and microstructures with sub-nanometer resolution; sample data of an optical polished surface

$3D topography profile of a DOE Diffractive Optical Element showing precise surface form and roughness with color-coded height data.$

Detailed analysis of a DOE Diffractive Optical Element in a 3D profile

3D flatness evaluation of multilayer glass with nanometer precision using optical surface profiler by Polytec, showing color-coded height map. — Flatness evaluation of multiple layers of glass

3D topography map of glass surface flatness measurement using color scale from blue to red for nanometer height variations — Topography measurement result of a glass surface evaluating flatness

Hand operating a surface profiler to inspect flatness and roughness of a precision optical lens with nanometer accuracy — Surface profilers deliver in-process feedback of machining, such as grinding, polishing of optics/ lenses and precision mechanics

Precision mechanical component with flatness and step height features mounted for optical surface metrology testing using Polytec technology. — Surface flatness evaluation of precision mechanics for optical instruments

Measurement tasks in the optical industry

Optical polishing

Superfinished surfaces and optical polishing demand non-contact, areal and high-precision white-light interferometers. Polytec profiler delivers remarkable results even with very reflective or transparent materials.

Surface step height

Profilometric step-height measurement delivers objective layer/etch depth and uniformity from areal data, supporting ISO-aligned reporting and production SPC.

Layer thickness

Measure areal surfaces parameters to control layer thickness and optimize coating processes for minimizing quality costs.

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Discuss your demands with our experts

Let’s start with a short discussion about your parts, tolerances, and workflow—and, if useful, we can add a feasibility study, PolyMeasure (contract measurements), or a PolyRent trial as optional next steps.

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