The prism coupling methods disclosed herein are directed to determining a stress characteristic of an original IOX article having a buried IOX region with a buried refractive index profile that is problematic in the sense that it prevents the original IOX article from being measured using a prism coupler system. The methods include modifying the buried IOX region of the original IOX article in a surface portion of the buried IOX region to form a modified IOX article having an unburied refractive index profile that allows the modified IOX article to be measured using a prism coupler. The methods also include measuring a mode spectrum of the modified IOX article using the prism coupler system. The methods further include determining one or more stress characteristic of the original IOX article from the mode spectrum of the modified IOX article.

Systems and methods for conducting contact-free thickness and refractive-index measurements of transparent objects, such as intraocular lenses using a dual confocal microscopy system are disclosed.

A growth rate detection apparatus has a reflectometer to measure reflectivity of a thin film by receiving reflected light of light irradiated with the thin film, a growth rate candidate calculator to calculate a first growth rate and a second growth rate which are candidates for a growth rate of the thin film based on a temporal variation period of the reflectivity and a refractive index of the thin film in a case where the reflectometer irradiates the thin film with light of a first wavelength and to calculate a third growth rate and a fourth growth rate which are candidates for the growth rate of the thin film based on the temporal variation period and the refractive index in a case where the reflectometer irradiates the thin film with light of a second wavelength, and a growth rate selector to select a common growth rate.

Systems and methods are disclosed for improving optical spectrum fidelity of an integrated computational element fabricated on a substrate. The integrated computational element is configured, upon completion, to process an optical spectrum representing a chemical constituent of a production fluid from a wellbore. The systems and methods measure in situ a thickness, a complex index of refraction, or both of a film formed during fabrication to generate a predicted optical spectrum. The predicted optical spectrum is compared to a target optical spectrum. Revisions to a design of the integrated computational element are conducted in situ to improve optical spectrum fidelity relative to the target optical spectrum. Other systems and methods are presented.

Systems and methods for conducting contact-free thickness and refractive-index measurements of transparent objects, such as intraocular lenses using a dual confocal microscopy system are disclosed.

A system for facilitating the measurement of optical parameters of a substance sitting on a surface, so that identification of the substance by reflectance spectroscopy can be made without ambiguity. The system comprises a structure using a bistatic arrangement and an accompanying method to limit, to just two beams, the propagation of light from an arrangement of laser transmitters, via an interposed transparent dielectric, to a receiver thereby preventing multiple reflections within the transparent dielectric from reaching the receiver. The bistatic arrangement comprises laser transmitters and a receiver mounted on a telescoping boom, with both the laser transmitters and receiver being independently orientable, with the positions and orientations of the laser transmitters, the receiver and the telescoping boom electronically sensed at all times.

A growth-rate measuring apparatus has a refractometer to irradiate light of a plurality of different wavelengths to a surface of a substrate to measure a reflectivity of the surface of the substrate per different wavelengths, a fitter to fit a reflectivity calculated by a model function, the model function being obtained in advance, to a measured value of the reflectivity, for at least one layer of thin films laminated one by one on the substrate, with at least one of a refractive index and a growth rate as a fitting parameter, a parameter extractor to extract sets of fitting parameters for each wavelength in the different wavelengths, respectively, for which an error between the calculated reflectivity and the measured value of the reflectivity is minimum, and a parameter selector to select an optimum set of values of the fitting parameter, among the fitting parameters extracted for the different wavelengths.

A dielectric-coating based technique determines the refractive index of small dimension materials. The technique utilizes a sample of the small dimension material coated with the dielectric and an uncoated sample, where reflectivity is determined for each. The real and imaginary components of the refractive index can be determined for the small-dimension material itself.

The prism coupling methods disclosed herein are directed to determining a stress characteristic of an original IOX article having a buried IOX region with a buried refractive index profile that is problematic in the sense that it prevents the original IOX article from being measured using a prism coupler system. The methods include modifying the buried IOX region of the original IOX article in a surface portion of the buried IOX region to form a modified IOX article having an unburied refractive index profile that allows the modified IOX article to be measured using a prism coupler. The methods also include measuring a mode spectrum of the modified IOX article using the prism coupler system. The methods further include determining one or more stress characteristic of the original IOX article from the mode spectrum of the modified IOX article.

An embodiment sensor includes a hybrid waveguide. The hybrid waveguide includes a first dielectric optical waveguide lying on and in contact with a dielectric support layer; a first surface waveguide optically coupled to the first dielectric optical waveguide, parallel to the first dielectric optical waveguide, and lying on the dielectric support layer. The first surface waveguide has a lateral surface configured to guide a surface mode. The hybrid waveguide includes a cavity intended to be filled with a dielectric fluid, separating laterally the first dielectric optical waveguide from the lateral surface of the first surface waveguide.