Improved integrating-sphere throughput with a lens and nonimaging concentrator

Area of Science:

• Optical Engineering
• Metrology

Background:

• Traditional reflectometer designs often use collimators, limiting detector field of view and reducing optical throughput.
• Improving the efficiency of light collection is crucial for accurate and sensitive reflectance measurements.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel reflectometer design incorporating an integrating sphere with a lens and nonimaging concentrator.
• To demonstrate the enhanced throughput and performance of this new design compared to previous methods.

Main Methods:

• Development of a reflectometer utilizing an integrating sphere, a lens, and a nonimaging concentrator.
• Establishment of a procedure for designing lens-concentrator systems.
• Parametric studies to optimize the design and analyze its performance characteristics.

Main Results:

• The concentrator-lens combination significantly increases the throughput of the reflectometer.
• Measured angular response of the lens-concentrator system shows good agreement with ray-trace predictions.
• Performance is validated against an ideal system's response.

Conclusions:

• The novel reflectometer design offers superior throughput compared to collimator-based systems.
• The lens-concentrator approach provides an effective method for enhancing optical measurement efficiency.
• The design is well-characterized and validated through experimental and simulation data.