A method and apparatus for characterizing the surface form of an optical element, in particular a mirror or a lens element of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, includes: carrying out a plurality of interferometric measurements, in each of which an interferogram is recorded between a test wave emanating from a portion of the optical element in each case and a reference wave, the position of the optical element relative to the test wave being altered between these measurements, and calculating the figure of the optical element on the basis of these measurements. This calculation is carried out iteratively such that, in a plurality of iteration steps, the figure of the optical element is ascertained in each case by carrying out a forward calculation, each of these iteration steps being based in each case on a reference wave that was adapted based on the preceding iteration step.

Provided is a device for measuring a lens three-dimensional profile based on laser wavenumber scanning, including: a semiconductor laser for emitting coherent light; a beam splitter for dividing the coherent light into two parts; an optical wedge; a CCD camera for capturing an interference image; a computer for processing image information; a laser controller for adjusting an operating temperature and an operating current of the semiconductor laser; and a bilateral telecentric lens. The coherent light is reflected by the optical wedge and then reaches the bilateral telecentric lens through the beam splitter, to form a first reflected light path. The coherent light is reflected by the measured lens, and then reaches the bilateral telecentric lens through the beam splitter, to form a second reflected light path. The first reflected light path and the second reflected light path form an interference image after passing through the bilateral telecentric lens.

System and method for monitoring of performance of a mirror array of a digital scanner with a use of light, illuminating the mirror array at grazing (off-axis) incidence, and an optical imaging system that includes a lateral shearing interferometer (operated in either static or a phase-shifting condition) during and without interrupting the process of exposure of the workpiece with the digital scanner, to either simply identify problematic pixels for further troubleshooting or measure the exact magnitude of the deformation of a mirror element of the mirror array.

Projection objective wave-front aberration detecting device and a detecting method thereof, wherein the projection objective wave-front aberration detecting device comprises a light source and illuminating system, an object plane grating, an object plane displacement stage, a measured projection objective, an image plane grating, a two-dimensional photoelectric sensor, an image plane displacement stage and a control processing unit. According to the invention, by controlling the length of the object plane grating line, or the periodic structure of the object plane grating perpendicular to the shearing diffraction direction, or the object plane grating to adopt a sinusoidal grating, or the image plane grating to adopt an amplitude-phase hybrid grating, the complexity of an interference field is reduced, and the wave-front aberration detection speed and precision are improved, and the precision and speed of in-situ wave-front aberration detection can be improved.

A method for wavefront measurement of optical imaging system based on grating shearing interferometry, the grating shearing interferometer comprising: a light source and illumination system, an optical imaging system to be tested, a one-dimensional diffraction grating plate, a two-dimensional diffraction grating plate, a two-dimensional photoelectric sensor and a computing unit. The one-dimensional diffraction grating plate and the two-dimensional diffraction grating plate are respectively placed on the object side and the image side of the optical imaging system to be tested. By collecting N sets of interferograms with a $\frac{2\pi }{N}$
phase-shifting interval (where, $N=2\left(\mathrm{fix}\left(\frac{\mathrm{ceil}\left(1/s\right)}{2}\right)+1\right),$
s is the shear ratio of the grating shearing interferometer), combined with a certain phase retrieval algorithm, the influence of all high-order diffraction beams on the phase retrieval accuracy is eliminated, and finally the wavefront measurement accuracy for the optical imaging system is improved.

Method for detecting wavefront aberration for optical imaging system based on grating shearing interferometer, the grating shearing interferometer system comprising a light source and illumination system, an optical imaging system to be tested, a one-dimensional diffraction grating plate, a two-dimensional diffraction grating plate, a two-dimensional photoelectric sensor, and a computing unit. The one-dimensional and two-dimensional diffraction grating plates are respectively placed on the object plane and the image plane of the optical imaging system to be tested. By collecting interferograms with phase-shifting amounts of 0, π/2, π, 3π/2 and N sets of α, π-α, 2π-α (where, $N=2\left(\mathrm{fix}\left(\frac{\mathrm{ceil}\left(1\text{/}s\right)}{2}\right)+1\right),$
s is the shear ratio of the grating shearing interferometer system), combined with a certain phase retrieval algorithm, the influence of all high-order diffraction beams on the phase retrieval accuracy is eliminated, and finally the detection accuracy of wavefront aberration for the imaging system to be tested is improved.

Reference and test waves are directed in a common path mode in a fiber tip diffraction interferometer. A first fiber can be used to generate the reference wave and a second fiber can be used to generate the test wave. Each fiber can include a single mode fiber tip that defines a wedge at an end without a coating on end surface or a tapered fiber tip. The fiber tip diffraction interferometer can include an aplanatic pupil imaging lens or system disposed to receive both the test wave and the reference wave and a sensor configured to receive both the test wave and the reference wave.

System and methods are provided for characterizing an internal surface of a lens using interferometry measurements. Sphere-fitting a distorted radius determines distorted pathlengths. Ray-tracing simulates refraction at all upstream surfaces to determine a cumulative path length. A residual pathlength is scaled by the group-index and rays are propagated based on the phase-index. After aspheric surface fitting, a corrected radius is determined. To estimate a glass type for the lens, a thickness between focal planes of the lens surfaces is determined using RCM measurements. Then, for both surfaces, the surface is positioned into focus, interferometer path length matching is performed, a reference arm is translated to stationary phase point positions for three wavelengths to determine three per-color optical thicknesses, and ray-tracing is performed. A glass type is identified by minimizing an error function based on optical parameters of the lens and parameters determined from known glass types from a database.

A measurement system (11), the measurement system comprising: a sensor apparatus (22); an illumination system (IL1) arranged to illuminate the sensor apparatus with radiation, the sensor apparatus comprising a patterned region arranged to receive a radiation beam and to form a plurality of diffraction beams, the diffraction beams being separated in a shearing direction; the sensor apparatus comprising a radiation detector (24); wherein the patterned region is arranged such that at least some of the diffraction beams form interference patterns on the radiation detector; wherein the sensor apparatus comprises a plurality of patterned regions (19a-19c, 20a, 20b), and wherein pitches of the patterned regions are different in adjacent patterned regions.

A light intensity fluctuation-insensitive projection objective wave aberration detection device and a detection method thereof, comprising a light source and illumination system, an object plane marking plate, an object plane displacement table, a tested projection objective, an image plane marking plate, a two-dimensional photosensor, an image plane displacement table and a control processing unit; the object plane marking plate and the image plane marking plate are provided with grating marks for shear interference test and marks for light intensity test, the shear interferograms and the light intensity information are simultaneously received through the two-dimensional photosensor, the light intensity fluctuation error corresponding to each phase-shifting interferogram is corrected through the light intensity information, improving the detection precision, reducing the complexity and the cost of the system, and improving the detection speed.