Scatter From Optical Components: An Overview

Although optical scatter is a source of noise, limits resolution and reduces system throughput, it is also an extremely sensitive metrology tool and is being employed in a wide variety of applications both in and out of the optics industry. This paper is intended as a brief review of the current state of this important technology as it emerges from university and government laboratories to more general industry use. The bidirectional scatter distribution function (or BSDF) has become the common format for expressing scatter data and is now used almost universally. Measurements are routinely made at several laboratories around the country from the UV to the mid-IR. Data analysis of optical component scatter has progressed to the point where a variety of analysis tools are becoming available for discriminating between the various sources of scatter. Work has progressed on the analysis of rough surface scatter and the application of these techniques to some challenging problems outside the optical industry. Scatter metrology is acquiring standards and formal test procedures. The available scatter data base is rapidly expanding as the number and sophistication of measurement facilities increases. Scatter from contaminants, which is a key issue for space optics, is continuing to be a major area of work as scatterometers appear in vacuum chambers at various laboratories across the country. The current flurry of work in this growing area of metrology can be expected to continue for several more years and expand to applications outside the optics industry.