Xinghui Li

Holographic fabrication of large-constant concave gratings for wide-range flat-field spectrometers with the addition of a concave lens

We present a new design for the fabrication of concave gratings with large grating constants for flat-field miniature spectrometers with a wide spectral band. In this new design, one of the two optical paths for the holographic lithography of a curved grating structure with variable line spacing is modified by adding a concave lens in front of the point source. The addition of the concave lens allows the real point source, as well as the spatial filter for generating this point source, to be moved back. In this manner, the two spatial filters for generating two point sources are separated. Avoiding the physical conflict between these two spatial filters reduces the difficulty of fabricating large-constant concave gratings. Experimental results verify the feasibility of the proposed design in fabricating concave gratings with large grating constants. The resolution of a spectrometer using the fabricated concave grating is evaluated and found to be better than 1.1 nm across a spectral band ranging from 360 nm to 825 nm.

Design and testing of a four-probe optical sensor head for three-axis surface encoder with a mosaic scale grating

This paper presents a design study of a four-probe optical sensor head for a three-axis surface encoder with a mosaic scale grating. As the mosaic scale grating, multiple two-dimensional reflective-type scale gratings are aligned in a matrix on a plane so that measurement ranges of the three-axis surface encoder along the X- and Y-axes can be extended. An optical layout for a four-probe unit, which consists of a laser diode and two beam splitters, was designed based on geometrical optics so that four probes aligned in the matrix can be generated. The designed four-probe unit was integrated into the optical sensor head of the three-axis surface encoder. Interference signals generated by the superimposition of diffraction beams from the XY gratings were utilized in the three-axis surface encoder so that the translational displacement motions of the mosaic scale grating along the X-, Y- and Z-axes can be detected simultaneously by each probe in the four probes. Experiments were carried out to verify the feasibility of both the designed four-probe optical sensor head and the proposed concept of the mosaic scale grating for expanding the measurement range of the three-axis surface encoder along the X- and Y-directional primary axes of motion. Measurement sensitivity of each probe was compared, and its compensation was carried out by linear matrix calculations. Measurement resolution and nonlinearity of each probe were also investigated. In addition, XYZ-directional translational motions of a linear stage when a long-range translational motion along the X-axis was given to the mosaic scale grating were measured by stitching the measured results by the four probes.

Measurement of six-degree-of-freedom planar motions by using a multiprobe surface encoder

Abstract. A multiprobe surface encoder for optical metrology of six-degree-of-freedom (six-DOF) planar motions is presented. The surface encoder is composed of an XY planar scale grating with identical microstructures in X- and Y-axes and an optical sensor head. In the optical sensor head, three paralleled laser beams were used as laser probes. After being divided by a beam splitter, the three laser probes were projected onto the scale grating and a reference grating with identical microstructures, respectively. For each probe, the first-order positive and negative diffraction beams along the X- and Y-directions from the scale grating and from the reference grating superimposed with each other and four pieces of interference signals were generated. Three-DOF translational motions of the scale grating Δx, Δy, and Δz can be obtained simultaneously from the interference signals of each probe. Three-DOF angular error motions θX, θY, and θZ can also be calculated simultaneously from differences of displacement output variations and the geometric relationship among the three probes. A prototype optical sensor head was designed, constructed, and evaluated. Experimental results verified that this surface encoder could provide measurement resolutions of subnanometer and better than 0.1 arc sec for three-DOF translational motions and three-DOF angular error motions, respectively.

Development of a suspension type sliding planar motion table using magnetic fluid lubrication.

A sliding planar motion table system that can be used for the lens driving actuator of a laser cutting machine was developed. The system uses magnetic fluid as the lubricant to avoid the leakage of lubricating oil under the table and reduce environmental pollution. The motion table is suspended from the guide surface by an attractive force generated by electromagnets to reduce the contact and frictional forces between the table and the guide surface. The table is capable of movement in one rotational and two translational directions over the guide surface using six electromagnets and three non-contact displacement sensors. Experimental results showed that the magnetic suspension of the table reduced the friction by 82.1% compared to the friction that would otherwise be generated by the dead weight of the table. Circular motion within a diameter of 2 mm was achieved with resolutions of 5 μm and 20 μrad in the translational and rotational directions, respectively. A bandwidth of higher than 100 Hz was also achieved in the three movement directions.

Two-probe optical encoder for absolute positioning of precision stages by using an improved scale grating.

In this paper, a novel optical encoder enabling the simultaneous measurement of displacement and the position of precision stages is presented. The encoder is composed of an improved single-track scale grating and a compact two-probe reading head. In the scale grating, multiple reference codes are physically superimposed onto the incremental grooves, in contrast to conventional designs, where an additional track is necessary. The distribution of the reference codes follows a specific mathematical algorithm. For the reading head, a two-probe structure is designed to identify the discrete reference codes by means of the superimposition of the codes with a stationary mask and to read the continuous incremental grooves by means of a grating interferometry, respectively. A prototype encoder was designed, constructed and evaluated, and experimental results show that the distance code precision achieved is 0.5 μm, while the linearity error of the linear displacement measurement is less than 0.06%.

Improving the spectral resolution of flat-field concave grating miniature spectrometers by dividing a wide spectral band into two narrow ones

In this study, a new flat-field concave grating miniature spectrometer is proposed with improved resolution across a wide spectral band. A mirror is added to a conventional concave grating spectrometer and placed near the existing detector array, allowing a wide spectral band to be divided into two adjacent subspectral bands. One of these bands is directly detected by the detector, and the other is indirectly analyzed by the same detector after being reflected by the mirror. These two subspectral bands share the same entrance slit, concave grating, and detector, which allows for a compact size, while maintaining an improved spectral resolution across the entire spectral band. The positions of the mirror and other parameters of the spectrometer are designed by a computer procedure and the optical design software ZEMAX. Simulation results show that the resolution of this kind of flat-field concave grating miniature spectrometer is better than 1.6 nm across a spectral band of 700 nm. Experiments based on three laser sources reveal that the measured resolutions are comparable to the simulated ones, with a maximum relative error between them of less than 19%.

Low-cost lithography for fabrication of one-dimensional diffraction gratings by using laser diodes

A low-cost lithography technology is presented in this paper for fabrication of sub-micron order one-dimensional diffraction gratings. A Lloyd’s mirror interferometer which can generate stable interference fringes is used as fabrication tool. The Lloyd’s mirror interferometer is composed of a mirror and a substrate coated by photoresist, which are placed by nighty degrees. A plane wave is projected onto the Lloyd’s mirror and divided into two halves, one of which is directly projected onto the substrate and the other one reaches the substrate after being reflected by the mirror. These two beam interfere with each other and generate interference fringes, which are exposed onto the photoresist. After being developed, the exposed photoresist shows a one-dimensional surface-relief grating structures. In conventional lithography system based on the principle mentioned above, gas lasers, such as He-Cd laser are widely employed. The cost and footprint of such laser sources, however, are always high and bulky. A low-cost system by using cost-efficient 405 nm laser diodes is then proposed for solving these problems. A key parameter, coherence length that determines one-dimensional grating width is systematically studied. A fabrication system based on the interference lithography principle and 405 nm laser diodes is constructed for evaluation of the feasibility of using laser didoes as laser source. Gratings with 570 nm pitch are fabricated and evaluated by an atomic force microscope. Experiments results show that low-cost 405 nm laser diode is an effective laser source for one-dimensional grating fabrication.

Design of a variable-line-spacing grating pattern for spectrometers based on a grating Fresnel device.

In this Letter, we propose a variable-line-spacing (VLS) grating pattern for a hybrid diffractive device termed a grating Fresnel (G-Fresnel) lens, which is used in spectrometers to improve spectral resolution over a wide spectral range. The VLS grating pattern disperses light of specific wavelengths with a different angle and position such that the aberration caused by the Fresnel surface can be compensated for. In this manner, high resolution can be achieved over a relatively wide spectral range. The VLS grating pattern is designed based on the least wave-change principle and simulated by ZEMAX. Results reveal that the VLS G-Fresnel device allows a subnanometer resolution over a spectral range of 200 nm.

Fabrication of a concave grating with a large line spacing via a novel dual-beam interference lithography method

We introduce a novel dual-beam interference lithography (IL) method that makes it possible to fabricate a concave grating with a large line spacing. A concave lens is placed between two point sources for spatial interference and a concave substrate to produce the grating pattern. The original positions of the two point sources are separated by the concave lens, which permits the IL method to fabricate a concave grating that bypasses the line spacing limitation of the conventional IL system. A concave grating with a line spacing of about 3.8 μm was fabricated and fitted inside a miniature spectrometer. The enlarged line spacing reduces the detector length by 66.5%, while keeping the resolution better than 1.5 nm over a wide spectral band (360 - 825 nm).

Depth detection in interactive projection system based on one-shot black-and-white stripe pattern

A novel method enabling estimation of not only the screen surface as the conventional one, but the depth information from two-dimensional coordinates in an interactive projection system was proposed in this research. In this method, a one-shot black-and-white stripe pattern from a projector is projected on a screen plane, where the deformed pattern is captured by a charge-coupled device camera. An algorithm based on object/shadow simultaneous detection is proposed for fulfillment of the correspondence. The depth information of the object is then calculated using the triangulation principle. This technology provides a more direct feeling of virtual interaction in three dimensions without using auxiliary equipment or a special screen as interaction proxies. Simulation and experiments are carried out and the results verified the effectiveness of this method in depth detection.