Method for producing an optical assembly having at least two optical functional surfaces, an optical device and unit for carrying out the method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9296161-B2
Application number	US-201013496089-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 13, 2010
Priority date	Sep 14, 2009
Publication date	Mar 29, 2016
Grant date	Mar 29, 2016

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for producing an optical assembly, comprising at least two optical functional surfaces arranged in a fixed positional relationship to one another on a common supporting structure, wherein by means of a processing machine, in various process steps, at least two optical functional surfaces and at least one reference structure having a defined and measurable relative position to the optical functional surfaces are produced. The supporting structure remains rigidly connected to the processing machine until said process steps have been completed, and wherein the optical functional surfaces are then measured relative to the at least one reference structure, and any deviation from a target shape and target position is determined, after which said process steps are repeated at least once with modified actuation of the processing machine. The invention further relates to an optical device comprising an optical assembly produced in this way and to a unit for carrying out such a method.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for manufacturing an optical arrangement with at least two optical functional surfaces of a defined shape which are arranged on a common support structure in a fixed positional relation to one another, comprising:
in a first process step, by way of a machine tool, a first optical functional surface with a shape defined by an activation of a machine tool is manufactured from a blank which is at least one of formed by the support structure and arranged on the support structure,
in a second process step, by way of the machine tool, at least one second optical functional surface with a shape defined by the activation of the machine tool and with a defined relative position to the first functional surface is manufactured from at least one of the mentioned blank and a further blank which is arranged in the support structure, and
in a third process step, by way of the machine tool, at least one reference structure with a defined and measurable relative position to the optical functional surfaces is at least one of manufactured upon the support structure, manufactured on the support structure, manufactured on the blank and manufactured on the further blank,
wherein the support structure remains fixedly connected to the machine tool until completion of the mentioned three process steps which may be carried out in at least one of a temporal sequence and simultaneously; and
wherein subsequently the shape and the position of the at least two optical functional surfaces on the support structure relative to the at least one reference structure is measured in a measurement construction and a deviation of the optical functional surfaces from a desired shape or desired position, which is defined in an exact manner relative to the at least one reference structure, is determined,
wherein the mentioned three process steps are repeated at least once with an activation of the machine tool which is changed in a manner such that the mentioned deviation is reduced.

2. The method according to the preceding claim 1 , wherein the determining of the deviation and the subsequent repetition of the three mentioned process steps with a changed activation of the machine tool is effected several times in a deterministic manner, until the remaining deviation drops below a defined tolerance.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the blank and the further blank is arranged on the support structure connected to the machine tool only after the beginning or completion of at least one of the mentioned process steps.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein one of the mentioned process steps is carried out by a turning tool of the machine tool which comprises a diamond as a cutting element.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the mentioned process steps is carried out by a milling tool of the machine tool which has a diamond as a cutting element.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the process steps for structuring the optical functional surfaces and the at least one reference structure are partly carried out with at least one turning tool and partly with at least one milling tool of the machine tool which each have a diamond as a cutting element, wherein the machining by way of the turning tool and the milling tool are carried out at least one of successively and alternatingly in a fixed tool arrangement.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the optical functional surfaces is a mirror with a metallic mirror surface.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the optical functional surfaces are at least one of shaped in a planar manner; shaped in a concave manner; shaped in a convex manner; shaped in a free manner; and formed with a combination of such shapes.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one reference structure at least one of defines at least one point; defines at least one line; defines at least one surface; comprises at least one spherically concave surface; forms at least one spherically concave surface; comprises at least one cylinder-shaped surface; forms at least one cylinder-shaped surface; and is designed in a cross-shaped manner.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the at least one reference structure and the optical functional surfaces are measured in at least one of a tactile manner; measured in an interferometric manner; and measured by way of imaging optics, for determining the mentioned deviation.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one reference structure is at least one of manufactured with optical surface quality and manufactured such that together with at least one of the optical function surfaces it may be measured interferometrically.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein two, three or up to six reference structures are manufactured.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least two of the optical functional surfaces have a common rotation axis, about which the support structure is rotated in the machine tool for manufacturing these functional surfaces.

14. The method according to claim 1 , wherein firstly the reference structures are measured and then the optical functional surfaces are measured in relation to the reference structures, for determining the deviation.

15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein by means of the reference structures, firstly a position of a coordinate origin is determined, which during the process steps is unambiguously defined with respect to the machine tool, and then the optical functional surfaces are measured in relation to the coordinate origin.

16. An optical apparatus, comprising an optical arrangement which is manufactured by a method according to claim 1 .

17. The optical apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein a position and orientation of the optical arrangement in the optical apparatus is fixed by way of at least one bearing-contact geometry, which as a further structure of the optical arrangement is manufactured with optical precision and with which the optical arrangement bears on a support of the optical apparatus.

18. The optical apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein it is a telescope.

19. A device for carrying out a method according to claim 1 , comprising:
a machine tool for manufacturing the at least two functional surfaces and the at least one reference structure, and
a measurement device which is one of arranged separate from the machine tool and integrated in the machine tool, for measuring the functional surfaces and the at least one reference structure,
wherein the measurement device with regard to programming technology is set up to determine the deviation of the optical functional surfaces compared to a desired shape and desired position which are defined relative to the at least one reference structure and to at least one of (i) transform the determined deviation into a coordinate system defined by degrees of freedom of the machine tool and (ii) compute corrected setting values for the machine tool by way of which the deviation may be at least largely compensated by repeating at least one of the first, second and third process steps.

20. A method for manufacturing an optical apparatus including an optical arrangement with at least two optical functional surfaces of a defined shape which are arranged on a common support structure in a fixed positional relation to one another, the method comprising:
manufacturing the optical arrangement using the method of claim 1

Assignees

• Scheiding Sebastian
• Risse Stefan
• Gebhardt Andreas
• Damm Christoph
• Peschel Thomas
• Steinkopf Ralf
• Fraunhofer Ges Forschung
• Friedrich Schiller Universität Jena

Inventors

• Scheiding Sebastian
• Risse Stefan
• Gebhardt Andreas
• Damm Christoph
• Peschel Thomas
• Steinkopf Ralf

Classifications

• G02B17/0626

  using three curved mirrors (G02B17/0668, G02B17/0694 take precedence) · CPC title

• G02B7/182

  for mirrors · CPC title

• B29D11/00596 Primary

  Mirrors · CPC title

• Y10T82/10

  Process of turning · CPC title