New Product: ESDI Intellium™ Asphere Fizeau Interferometer

Tucson (May 31, 2007) – In the growing micro-optics market, there is a new and ever increasing challenge: How to quickly and accurately characterize an aspheric optical component at an affordable price. Unlike spherical optics, the aspheric lens poses a special problem that is just now beginning to be addressed. The majority of traditional interferometers are used in the manufacture of professional lenses to measure spherical surfaces. When you use these interferometers to measure aspherical surfaces -- which can protrude as sharply as a parabola -- you only get a measurement of the rounded top of the optic, which is a small percentage of the optic’s overall surface. Thus, each lens cannot be fully characterized and tested until it is integrated into an optical system, making the overall manufacturing process of these lenses more time consuming and expensive than their spherical counterparts. What’s required is an interferometer specifically designed to accurately characterize each aspheric lens before further integration into an optical system.