Chih-Yu Huang

Chih-Yu Huang’s dissertation research project focuses on the design, fabrication, and testing of freeform optics. The rapid development of advanced optical design techniques and software has led to requests for more efficient and versatile optical fabrication methods. Diamond turning machine is one of the solutions for fabricating high quality and complex optical surfaces. We have finished several projects using the diamond turning machine to cut lens surfaces ranging from endoscope lens, lens array, laser beam-shaping lens, to illumination lens. Diamond turning process is capable of generating spherical and freeform surfaces to an optical quality without post-polishing process. However, there are inevitable tool marks on the finished surfaces. These small features can degrade the optical performance of the system. As a result, we propose a model to estimate the surface topography generated by diamond turning process. With this model added to the optical surface of interest, optical designers can benefit from having a more realistic lens surface to analyze and optimize. Finally, we develop novel in-situ testing and aligning techniques on the diamond turning machine to validate and improve the quality of the diamond-turned surfaces.