Direct-imaging DOEs for high-NA multi-spot confocal surface measurement

Abstract

Abstract Diffractive lens arrays with overlapping apertures can produce spot arrays with high numerical apertures (NAs). Combined with low-NA objectives, they can measure a large area with high lateral resolution. However, for surface measurements, the axial resolution of such setups is still fundamentally limited by the objectives. In this work, we propose a new design of diffractive optical elements (DOEs) to overcome this problem. The proposed Direct-imaging DOEs can perform 3D high-NA multi-spot surface measurements. Laterally, a non-vanishing contrast up to 1448 lp/mm is measured with a USAF resolution target. Axially, an average height of 917.5 nm with a standard deviation of 49.9 nm is measured with a calibrated step height target of 925.5 nm.