As a key element in point-diffraction interferometer (PDI), the diffraction pinhole determines the sphericity of the reference wavefront and achievable precision of the testing system. The point-diffraction wavefront error, aperture angle, and light transmittance in the PDI operating at visible light, which are determined by pinhole dimension, are analyzed based on finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. The study shows that an aperture angle about 75° can be obtained with a 1 μm pinhole diameter, and the corresponding testing precision is better than root mean square $\lambda /1000$ within 0.35 NA. Both the numerical simulation and experiments have been carried out to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed analysis approach, and a good agreement is obtained between calculated and measured parameters in visible-light PDI. The proposed simulation approach with the FDTD method provides a feasible way to analyze the diffraction wavefront in visible-light PDI, as well as a powerful tool for the design and optimization of PDI system.

The deflectometry provides a feasible way for surface testing with a high dynamic range, and the calibration is a key issue in the testing. A computer-aided testing method based on reverse Hartmann test, a fringe-illumination deflectometry, is proposed for high-accuracy testing of reflective surfaces. The virtual “null” testing of surface error is achieved based on ray tracing of the modeled test system. Due to the off-axis configuration in the test system, it places ultra-high requirement on the calibration of system geometry. The system modeling error can introduce significant residual systematic error in the testing results, especially in the cases of convex surface and small working distance. A calibration method based on the computer-aided reverse optimization with iterative ray tracing is proposed for the high-accuracy testing of reflective surface. Both the computer simulation and experiments have been carried out to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed measurement method, and good measurement accuracy has been achieved. The proposed method can achieve the measurement accuracy comparable to the interferometric method, even with the large system geometry calibration error, providing a feasible way to address the uncertainty on the calibration of system geometry.

It is a key issue to measure the point-diffraction wavefront error, which determines the achievable accuracy of point-diffraction interferometer (PDI). A high-precision method based on shearing interferometry is proposed to measure submicron-aperture fiber point-diffraction wavefront with high numerical aperture (NA). To obtain the true shearing point-diffraction wavefront, a double-step calibration method based on three-dimensional coordinate reconstruction and symmetric lateral displacement compensation is proposed to calibrate the geometric aberration in the case of high NA and large lateral wavefront displacement. The calibration can be carried out without any prior knowledge about the system configuration parameters. With the true shearing wavefront, the differential Zernike polynomials fitting method is applied to reconstruct the point-diffraction wavefront. Numerical simulation and experiments have been carried out to demonstrate the accuracy and feasibility of the proposed measurement method, and a good measurement accuracy is achieved.

The deflectometry provides a powerful metrological technique enabling the high-precision testing of reflective surfaces with high dynamic range, such as aspheric and freeform surfaces. In the fringe-illumination deflectometry based on reverse-Hartmann-test configuration, the calibration of system geometry is required to achieve “null” testing. However, the system miscalibration can introduce a significant systematic error in the testing results. A general double-step calibration method, which is based on the low-order Zernike aberration optimization and high-order aberration separation, is proposed to separate and eliminate the geometrical error due to system miscalibration. Both the numerical simulation and experiments have been performed to validate the feasibility of the proposed calibration method. The proposed method provides a general way for the accurate calibration of system geometrical error, avoids the over-correction and is feasible for the testing of various complex freeform surfaces.

The transmitted wavefront testing technique is demanded for the performance evaluation of transmission optics and transparent glass, in which the achievable dynamic range is a key issue. A computer-aided deflectometric testing method with fringe projection is proposed for the accurate testing of transmitted wavefronts with a large dynamic range. Ray tracing of the modeled testing system is carried out to achieve the virtual ‘null’ testing of transmitted wavefront aberrations. The ray aberration is obtained from the ray tracing result and measured slope, with which the test wavefront aberration can be reconstructed. To eliminate testing system modeling errors, a system geometry calibration based on computer-aided reverse optimization is applied to realize accurate testing. Both numerical simulation and experiments have been carried out to demonstrate the feasibility and high accuracy of the proposed testing method. The proposed testing method can achieve a large dynamic range compared with the interferometric method, providing a simple, low-cost and accurate way for the testing of transmitted wavefronts from various kinds of optics and a large amount of industrial transmission elements.