Nondestructive metrology by optical

coherence tomography empowering

manufacturing iterations of layered
polymeric optical materials

Jianing Yao
Panomsak Meemon
Kye-Sung Lee
Jannick P. Rolland

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 Optical Engineering 52(11), 112111 (November 2013)
Nondestructive metrology by optical coherence
tomography empowering manufacturing iterations of
layered polymeric optical materials
Jianing Yao
University of Rochester
Institute of Optics
Rochester, New York 14627
E-mail: jyao@optics.rochester.edu
Panomsak Meemon
University of Rochester
Institute of Optics
Rochester, New York 14627
and
Suranaree University of Technology
School of Laser Technology and Photonics
Institute of Science
Nakhon Ratchasima 30000, Thailand
Kye-Sung Lee
University of Rochester
Institute of Optics
Rochester, New York 14627
and
Center for Analytical Instrumentation Development
Korea Basic Science Institute
Daejeon 305-806, Republic of Korea
Jannick P. Rolland
University of Rochester
Institute of Optics
Rochester, New York 14627
1 Introduction
In recent years, there has been an ever-growing interest in
exploring novel optical materials and components to develop
compact and effective optical systems. One of the fastest-
moving directions of interest is the development of gradient
refractive index (GRIN) optics, which allows for reduced
size, light weight, easy-mounting, yet highly robust optical
systems compared to conventional optical setups. A signifi-
cant breakthrough is a process to produce nanolayered-
polymer-film-based GRIN optical components with an
unparalleled control of their internal refractive index dis-
tribution.1 This fabrication process, based on nanolayer
co-extrusion of polymer film processing,2 is capable of pro-
ducing polymer films comprised of a plurality of nanolayers,
each with a thickness constrained below the quarter-wave-
length of visible light. The refractive indices of these thin
films are controlled, based on the effective medium theory
predictions, by tuning the volumetric ratio of the constituent
polymerically compatible raw materials with substantially
different refractive indices prior to film co-extrusion. The
extruded nanolayered films of various refractive indices
0091-3286/2013/$25.00 © 2013 SPIE
Optical Engineering
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Abstract. In recent years, there has been an ever-growing interest in
exploring different optical materials and components to develop compact
and effective optical systems. The design and fabrication of high-perfor-
mance optics require nondestructive metrology techniques to inspect the
samples. We have investigated the capability of optical coherence tomog-
raphy (OCT) to nondestructively characterize layered polymeric materials.
Using a custom developed Gabor-domain optical coherence microscopy
system centered at 800 nm with 120 nm full width at half maximum ena-
bling unprecedented 2 μm resolution both laterally and axially in an 8 mm3
volume, we investigated the internal structure of 50 μm thick films and lay-
ered sheets, which prompted the manufacturing process to adopt a com-
patibilization technique. Based on a custom swept-source OCT system
centered at 1320 nm with expanded imaging field-of-view and latest
depth of imaging extended to ∼5 mm, we performed nondestructive met-
rology of the layer thickness profiles over the depth of a monolithic layered
sheet and diagnosed a film compression issue within the sheet. With the
OCT metrology, the manufacturing process has been advanced and the
layer thickness profile of a recent layered gradient refractive index sheet
shows improved uniformity through depth. © 2013 Society of Photo-Optical
Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) [DOI: 10.1117/1.OE.52.11.112111]
Subject terms: optical coherence tomography; nondestructive metrology; layered
polymeric materials; optical manufacturing; precision optical metrology.
Paper 130683SSP received May 8, 2013; revised manuscript received Jul. 8, 2013;
accepted for publication Jul. 10, 2013; published online Aug. 8, 2013.
can be stacked based on the prescribed gradient index recipe
and thermo-compressed to create a consolidated GRIN sheet,
which can be further processed into a preform and diamond-
turned into a final spherical GRIN lens.3
The design and fabrication of high-performance GRIN
optics require nondestructive metrology approaches to
inspect the samples. Optical coherence tomography (OCT)
is a technique for high-resolution, high-sensitivity and high-
speed three-dimensional (3D) imaging of samples, particu-
larly after the advancement of Fourier-domain OCT.4,5
The capability of OCT for noninvasive measurement of
the refractive index profile of crystalline lenses has been
reported previously. For instance, Verma et al. demonstrated
the extraction of the radial GRIN profile of fisheye lenses
using 3D OCT data and a numerical ray-tracing algorithm,6
where an accuracy of 10−2 in the refractive index measure-
ment was reported. In addition, de Castro et al. reported on
applying a 3D GRIN profile retrieval technique based on 3D
OCT imaging, ray tracing and a global search algorithm to ex
vivo measurement of the GRIN profile of ex vivo human
crystalline lenses.7
In the remainder of this paper, we will demonstrate
the capability of OCT to guide the manufacturing process
of layered polymeric materials through nondestructive
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 Yao et al.: Nondestructive metrology by optical coherence tomography empowering manufacturing iterations. . .
characterization of their internal structure. We will first
review the two custom OCT systems developed in our labo-
ratory in Sec. 2.1 and a layer thickness metrology algorithm
in Sec. 2.2; in Secs. 3.1 and 3.2, we will present two mile-
stone contributions that OCT has triggered in the manufac-
turing process to improve the light transmission and the layer
thickness uniformity of the samples, respectively, after OCT
identified the initial issues and prompted the manufacturer to
find solutions that were further verified by OCT; in Sec. 3.3,
we will demonstrate the latest result of extended imaging
depth up to ∼5 mm enabled by an upgraded OCT system;
finally, a brief summary including the future work will be
provided in Sec. 4.
2 Methodology
2.1 System Configuration and 3D Volumetric Imaging
Two types of OCT systems, Gabor-domain optical coherence
microscopy (GD-OCM)8–10 and swept-source OCT (SS-
OCT),11–13 both custom-built in our laboratory, have been
primarily used throughout the development of the techniques
for OCT metrology of layered polymeric materials.
GD-OCM is a novel spectrometer-based OCT conceived
and developed in our laboratory with unprecedented lateral
resolution previously demonstrated in skin imaging.14,15 It
leverages some advantages of Fourier-domain OCT while
also extending that capability by utilizing a liquid lens
embedded in a custom-designed optical system to achieve
dynamic focusing of a component at both axial and lateral
optical resolutions of 2 μm throughout up to 2 mm of the
component.8 As shown in the system’s layout in Fig. 1(a),
broadband light from a Titanium:Sapphire femtosecond laser
centered at 800 nm with 120 nm full width at half maximum
(FWHM) was divided into two arms of a fiber-based
Michelson interferometer employing a broadband custom-
made 80∕20 fiber coupler (NSF-DARPA/PTAP). A custom
liquid-lens-based 3D scanning objective enables 80% of the
light to focus on a component and the other 20% of the light
is delivered to the reference arm with a custom dispersion
compensator, which is based on the principle of the
Fourier-domain optical delay line.16 Reflected or backscat-
tered light from the component was interfered with light
reflected from the reference arm and then detected by a cus-
tom spectrometer with a high-speed CMOS line camera
(spl8192-70km, Basler Inc., Ahrensburg, Germany). The
Fig. 1 Layouts of the two OCT systems: (a) the GD-OCM system and (b) the SS-OCT system.
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spectrum of the interference signal was registered onto
4992 pixels (10 μm × 20 μm per pixel) of the CMOS line
camera through the spectrometer. The Fourier transform
of the spectrum corresponds to a depth profile of the com-
ponent reflectivity along the incident beam path. The expo-
sure time was set to 20 μs and the acquisition speed was
23,000 A-scans/s with x–y scanning by two cross-axes mir-
rors driven by two galvanometers synchronized to the
acquisition of the CMOS camera. Given its 3D high-
resolution imaging capability, GD-OCM was primarily
used to study the characteristics of 50 μm thick nanolayered
films as well as the subfilm structure of consolidated GRIN
sheets. For the 3D imaging of the films at 2 μm resolution,
light was focused at the center of the film by adjusting the
applied voltage to the liquid lens embedded in the objective.
The depth of focus of 60 μm, which was assessed experimen-
tally,9 was sufficient to achieve 2 μm resolution over the 3D
effective 50 μm thick film with one focus adjustment of the
liquid lens. One A-scan consisted of 500 sampling points
with a depth sampling resolution of ∼0.9 μm. An acquired
3D dataset of a film is comprised of 1000 frames with 1000
A-scans/frame, corresponding to a geometrical lateral field-
of-view (FOV) of 1 × 1 mm2 with a lateral sampling resolu-
tion of 1 μm. For the GRIN sheet imaging, we acquired
11 volumes from the same 1000 μm × 650 μm × 1000 μm
portion of a GRIN sheet from the top surface with a lateral
sampling resolution of 1 μm, which corresponded to 1000 ×
1000 × 11 A-scans or spectra. The 11 volumes were taken
relative to shifted focal planes with 60 μm separation
to achieve 2 μm resolution over the imaged portion of the
GRIN sheet. The 11 volume images were reconstructed in
post-processing into one volume using the Gabor-based
fusion technique.10
In comparison to the GD-OCM system, the SS-OCT sys-
tem is a swept-source-based Fourier-domain OCT,17 which
utilizes photo-detectors to record signals. It was implemented
as a fiber-based Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI)
as shown in Fig. 1(b). The light source was a Fourier-domain
mode-locking laser (Micron Optics, Atlanta, Georgia) cen-
tered at 1320 nm with a tuning range of ∼158 nm and an aver-
age output power of 5.6 mW. The axial optical resolution of
the system is approximately 8 μm in air and the effective fre-
quency sweep rate of the light source is 45 kHz.18 The output
from the light source was coupled into a fiber and sub-
sequently split by a broadband 80∕20 fiber coupler. The
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 Yao et al.: Nondestructive metrology by optical coherence tomography empowering manufacturing iterations. . .
portion of the beam with 80% power was delivered to the
sample arm, out-coupled by a collimator, and directed onto
the mirror surface of a galvanometer scanner (VM500, GSI
Lumonics, Bedford, Massachusetts) which allows for raster
scan of the sample beam along the x-axis. The beam reflected
by the galvanometer mirror was further focused onto a sample
through the focusing optics (LSM03, Thorlabs, Newton, New
Jersey), which offers 20 μm lateral optical resolution and
9.4 × 9.4 mm2 lateral FOV. The scan of the sample along
the y-axis was achieved by mounting the sample platform
on a motorized linear stage (VP-25XA, Newport, Irvine,
California) with 0.1 μm resolution. The whole configuration
of the scanning scheme in the sample arm provides high-accu-
racy distortion-free scan of the sample. As opposed to the
sample arm, 20% portion of the beam split by the fiber coupler
was delivered to the reference arm where a Fourier-domain
optical delay line was implemented. The back-scattered
light from the sample and the reflected light from the reference
mirror were coupled back to the fiber passing through fiber
circulators and then combined at a 50∕50 fiber coupler.
The time-encoded spectral interference signal was detected
by using a balanced photo-detector, and then digitized on
one channel of a two-channel, high-speed, 12-bit-resolution
analog-to-digital converter operating at 200 Msamples∕s
(NI PCI 5124, National Instruments, Austin, Texas). The
detected signal was recalibrated to the linear frequency
space prior to Fourier transform. In this system, the recalibra-
tion process was performed by using the time-frequency rela-
tion measured by an additional MZI denoted by the solid blue
box in Fig. 1(b). Simultaneously with the detection of the
main interference signal, the calibration signal was detected
by a second photo-detector and then digitized on another
8-bit-resolution analog-to-digital converter operating at
250 Msamples∕s (NI PCI 5114, National Instruments, Austin,
Texas). The maximum sensitivity of the SS-OCT system was
measured to be about 98 dB. The imaging depth range was
about 1 mm as determined by −10 dB sensitivity fall-off.
SS-OCT has an advantage in terms of the imaging FOV
because of its smaller numerical aperture and slower sig-
nal-to-noise ratio roll-off over depth and therefore was utilized
to evaluate the layer thickness profiles of the consolidated
sheets over depth as well as their transverse homogeneity.
For a typical lateral imaging FOV of 10 × 10 mm2 ,
500 × 500 depth scans were acquired with lateral sampling
resolution of 20 μm. Each depth scan consisted of 500 sam-
pling points with sampling resolution of about 1.9 μm, and
therefore covered a depth range of approximately 0.9 mm.
2.2 Layer Thickness Metrology Technique
Based on the acquired 3D data, an algorithm has been devel-
oped in our laboratory to extract the layer thickness profiles
of the layered polymeric samples. During the data post-
processing, the acquired OCT spectra were sufficiently zero-
padded followed by fast Fourier transforms in LabVIEW
to obtain finely interpolated depth profiles with ∼10 nm
sampling resolution. We then detected the axial positions
of the intensity peaks of every adequately sampled depth pro-
file to find the accurate depth locations of layer interfaces. By
applying a peak detection algorithm to all depth scans across
the entire lateral FOV, we segmented layer interfaces within
the 3D imaging volume for topographic mapping. After
interface mapping, the optical thickness of one or more
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layers was obtained by computing the depth position differ-
ence between interfaces. It should be noted that the axial
quantities directly offered by OCT are measured in terms
of group optical path length, or the physical quantities multi-
plied by group refractive index (ng ).19 This is a result of the
low-coherence interferometry nature of OCT. The full pro-
cedures of internal interface topography and layer thickness
metrology are illustrated in Fig. 2.
3 Results
3.1 High-Resolution OCT Imaging Enabling
Compatibilization Manufacturing
The 3D high-resolution OCT imaging of both nanolayered
films and consolidated sheets has prompted a significant
advancement in the manufacturing technology by identifying
the issue of light transmission loss caused by substantial
amount of strongly reflective inter-layer interfaces. In
response to the OCT diagnosis, the manufacturer modified
its process in November 2011 by applying a new compati-
bilization technique in replacement of the original homo-
geneous method to the material feed stocks to reduce the
prominence of inter-layer interfaces. The transition to the
compatibilized manufacturing has significantly diminished
the internal structure and improved the light transmission
of the yielded optical components by over 10%.
To illustrate the effect of compatibilization on the clarity
of individual polymeric films, Fig. 3(a) to 3(d) compare the
GD-OCM imaging of four 50 μm thick films bounded by a
25 μm thick protective LDPE skin layer on either side,
including two homogeneous and two compatibilized films
with both 76∕24 and 34∕66 PMMA/SAN17 compositions.
We previously reported on the capability of OCT in precisely
measuring the locations and dimensions of micron-scale
structures within films.3 As can be directly visualized from
the OCT imaging snapshots in Fig. 3(a) to 3(d), both 76∕24
and 34∕66 PMMA/SAN17 homogeneous films show dense
subfilm interfaces shielding a significant amount of light
from transmitting through, whereas the compatibilized films
clearly exhibit a dramatically reduced internal structure. The
PMMA-heavier (76∕24 PMMA/SAN17) compatibilized
film appears to have the best optical quality with the least
amount of reflecting interfaces or particles. The imaging
result of the films demonstrates that compatibilization,
inspired by the results of OCT imaging, brings positive
impact on improving the film clarity and transmission.
To further inspect in detail the impact of compatibilization
on the sheet level, we also performed GD-OCM imaging of
both homogeneous and compatibilized sheets. A 1 × 1×
0.65 mm3 ðx; y; zÞ portion near the SAN17 heavy edge
was imaged for both samples to investigate the internal struc-
ture of the stacked films in a sheet. The high resolution and
sensitivity of GD-OCM enabled high-contrast visualization
of the film-to-film interfaces within the sheets and also clear
viewing of the subfilm layer structures as shown in Fig. 3(f)
to 3(g). The imaging result of the two types of sheets sug-
gests that, compared to the homogeneous sheet, the compa-
tibilization technique significantly reduced the undesirable
back-reflections from film-to-film interfaces. In a separate
test, the compatibilized sheet was evaluated to have a trans-
mission of 88.8%, a significant improvement over the 77.5%
for the homogeneous sheet.
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Fig. 2 Layer thickness metrology procedures: (a) a photograph of a layered polymeric sample; (b) an example of a recalibrated OCT spectrum;
(c) a depth profile obtained from taking FFT of the OCT spectrum in (b). The arrows indicate the two intensity peaks on the depth profile that
correspond to the layer interfaces analyzed in (d–e); (d)–(e) are two examples of topography of internal interfaces and corresponding reconstructed
en face images at the interfaces denoted by red arrows; (f) a cross-sectional image of the sample; (g) topography of the optical thickness denoted
by the double arrow in (f). The thickness topography is based on subtraction of the interface topography data in (d)–(e); (h) a histogram distribution
plot associated with the thickness topography in (g).

Fig. 3 GD-OCM imaging of homogeneous and compatibilized films and sheets. (a)–(d) are snapshots of 3D volumentric rendering of 50 μm thick
76∕24 PMMA/SAN17 homogeneous, 76∕24 PMMA/SAN17 compatibilized, 34∕66 PMMA/SAN17 homogeneous, and 34∕66 PMMA/SAN17 com-
patibilized films respectively; (e) is a photograph of a 50 μm thick nanolayered film; (f)–(g) are snapshots of 3D volumetric rendering of old homo-
geneous and new compatibilized sheets respectively; (h) is a photograph of a consolidated sheet, which is visually transparent.

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3.2 Nondestructive Layer Thickness Quantification films and has a uniform refractive index throughout the
Over Depth Enhancing Layer Thickness 3D volume. Given that the sample is much thicker than
Uniformity of Sheets the imaging depth range of the Micron-Optics-based SS-
Based on the SS-OCT system with the expanded imaging OCT system, we collected two sets of 3D OCT data, each
FOV, we performed quantitative evaluations of the layered covering a physical dimension of 10 × 10 × 0.8 mm3
sheet samples using the layer thickness metrology technique ðx; y; zÞ of the top and bottom portions of the sample,
detailed in Sec. 2.2, which determined the film thickness respectively. From the 3D OCT data, we evaluated the
heterogeneity cueing the manufacturer to investigate and group optical thickness of the internal film layers accessible
subsequently improve the thermo-compression process. by the SS-OCT system and estimated the corresponding
With the advancement of the manufacturing process enabled physical thickness of each layer by dividing the group optical
by OCT, the layer thickness profile of a recent layered GRIN thickness by the group refractive index of the sample.
sheet shows improved uniformity through depth. Figure 4 shows the SS-OCT imaging and the layer
In November 2011, a layered polymeric sheet sample thickness quantification results of the monolithic sheet.
with size of 33 × 33 × 2.93 mm3 ðx; y; zÞ was examined Figure 4(f) to 4(g) shows two plots of the internal layer thick-
using the SS-OCT system. The sample is composed of 108 ness profiles as a function of the layer number counted from
co-extruded 10∕90 PMMA/SAN17 nanolayered polymer the top and bottom surfaces of the sheet, respectively. Each

x (b)
y
Top
(a) z
0.8 mm

Intermediate layers
33 mm

NOT TO 2.93 mm
SCALE (Inaccessible by the old
SS-OCT system)
2.93 mm
0.8 mm
33 mm
Bottom
(c)

2.93 mm
Incident
beam 0.8 mm Intermediate layers 0.8 mm

(Inaccessible by the
x
old SS-OCT system)
z (d) (e)

Top Bottom
50 50
(f) Layer thickness is predicted to vary from (g) 45
45
Thickness (µm)
Thickness (µm)

~ µm.
40 40

35 35

30 OCT data 30
27 µm
Specs 25
25

20 20
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 23 21 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 5 3 1
Layer Number Layer Number

(h) x 60

50 (i)
Thickness (µm)

z
40

30

20 Microscope
OCT
10

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Layer Number

Fig. 4 Nondestructive metrology of the layer thickness profiles over the depth of a layered monolithic polymeric sheet. (a) is a photograph of the
sample; (b)–(c) are volumetric rendering of the 3D OCT data sets of the top and bottom portions of the sample, respectively; (d)–(e) are cross-
sectional OCT images of the top and bottom portions of the sample with the red horizontal line pointed from the red arrow representing the location
where 500 repeated OCT depth scans were taken; (f)–(g) are layer thickness profiles of the top and bottom 23 layers, respectively, obtained from 500
repeated OCT measurements; (h) a cross-sectional image of the bottom 11 layers of the sample after being cut and imaged under a light microscope
(destructive); (i) quantitative comparison of the layer thickness profiles of the bottom 11 layers obtained from OCT and microscope measurements.

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film layer thickness plotted was quantified by averaging the
results from 500 OCT depth scans at the same lateral loca-
tion. The standard deviations of the 500 measurements of
each layer thickness vary from 0.02 to 0.62 μm, and are typ-
ically ∼0.2 μm. The plots of the top and bottom accessible
layers thicknesses suggest that the layer thicknesses decrease
from the edge toward the middle of the sample. To further
verify the results, the sample was sliced through near the
region where the OCT measurements were carried out.
Afterwards, the cross section of the cut surface was imaged
under a light microscope where the dense layer structure was
visually confirmed and the thicknesses of the first 11 layers
counted from the bottom surface were measured. The OCT
and microscope measurements showed high agreement
[Fig. 4(i)]. OCT has the benefit of being nondestructive.
The metrology provided by OCT showing that the sample
was under-compressed near the edges and over-compressed
in the middle prompted the manufacturer to refine their
co-extrusion operation by adopting an autoclave as well
as adjusting the operating temperature and pressure during
compression.
Two months after imaging the old monolithic sheet lead-
ing to the advancement of the manufacturing process, we
applied the same OCT 3D imaging and layer thickness met-
rology protocols to a new layered GRIN sheet with size of
27 × 24 × 4.9 mm3 ðx; y; zÞ to evaluate the manufacturing
iterations in terms of the layer thickness uniformity. Based
on the estimated group refractive index of the films, the
physical thickness of each imaged film layer was obtained
by dividing its group optical thickness by its estimated
group refractive index. Figure 5(d) to 5(e) shows two plots
of the internal film thickness profiles as a function of the
layer number counted from the top and bottom surfaces of
the sheet, respectively, with the result being averaged from

Fig. 5 Nondestructive metrology of the layer thickness profiles over the depth of a layered GRIN polymeric sheet. (a) is a photograph of the sample;
(b)–(c) are volumetric rendering of the 3D OCT data sets of the top and bottom portions of the sample, respectively, acquired by the SS-OCT
coupled to a Micron-Optics swept source in January 2012; (d)–(e) are layer thickness profiles of the top 21 and bottom 23 layers of the sample,
respectively, measured from SS-OCT data sets; (f) volumetric rendering of a 3D OCT data set of the sample over its full depth, acquired by
upgrading the custom SS-OCT with a Santec swept source in August 2012; (g) is a cross-sectional OCT image of the bottom portion of the sample
with the vertical lines representing where 500 repeated OCT depth scans were taken, i.e., the locations of the layer thickness profiles analyzed in
(h)–(q); (h)–(q) are the layer thickness profiles of the bottom 23 layers at the 10 positions denoted in (g).

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500 repeated OCT depth scans at the same lateral location. It
can be noted from the plots that except for an edge effect, the
film thicknesses do not fluctuate with depth as much as the
previously analyzed 2.93 mm thick monolithic sheet, which
suggests a positive iteration of compression uniformity
facilitated by OCT metrology.
To further investigate the consistency of the thickness dis-
tribution trend across the transverse field, we applied a pro-
tocol of repeated OCT measurements to multiple positions
located on the grid points of a 10 × 10 grid at the central
region of the sheet with 1 mm separation between the grid
points as shown by the yellow grid in Fig. 5(a). Figure 5(h) to
5(q) shows the film thickness profiles at 10 lateral locations
across one frame of the two-dimensional 10 × 10 sampling
points taken at the bottom edge of the sample, spanning
9 mm across the x-dimension as denoted by the vertical
lines on the cross-sectional OCT image in Fig. 5(g). The
film thickness distributions measured across the lateral field
show consistency in terms of the more uniform layer thick-
nesses beyond the first ∼250 μm into the sample. The stan-
dard deviations of the 500 repeated measurements at each of
the 10 positions vary from 0.04 to 1.57 μm and are on aver-
age ∼0.2 μm. The standard deviations of the film thickness
across the 10 positions vary from 0.22 μm (film layer # 1) to
2.43 μm (film layer # 22), and are on average ∼0.9 μm,
which provides information regarding the transverse inho-
mogeneity of the film layers.
3.3 Extended 3D OCT Imaging Depth
We have demonstrated the capability of OCT in identifying
and targeting issues encountered with the manufacturing
process. To push the limit in the imaging depth imposed
by the Micron Optics swept source, in August 2012, we
upgraded the SS-OCT system by integrating a Santec (HSL-
2100-WR, Santec, Japan) swept source centered at 1310 nm
with a ∼100 nm FWHM, providing an axial resolution of
∼10 μm in air. The new source enables the SS-OCT system
to achieve maximum sensitivity of ∼112 dB and an imaging
depth range of ∼5 mm as determined by the −10 dB sensi-
tivity fall-off at the expense of some axial resolution. As new
sources will continue to emerge, new goals may be targeted
while accounting for associated trade-offs.
Figure 6(b) shows a screen capture of the volumetric ren-
dering of 3D OCT imaging of a homogeneous GRIN sheet
over its full depth of 4.6 mm, where clear dense layer struc-
ture is observed throughout the entire volume. To showcase
the reliability of OCT imaging, we acquired two sets of 3D
data (known as “top up” and “bottom up” data sets) with the
beam incident on both the top and the bottom surface of
the sample (when the sample was flipped upside down). In
Fig. 6(d) to 6(e) and 6(h) to 6(i), we compared two pairs
of en face slices extracted from approximately the same loca-
tions of the “top up” and the “bottom up” 3D data sets
marked by the blue dashed boxes on the two cross-sectional
images [Fig. 6(c) and 6(j)], and observed the identical

Top up Bottom up
Incident beam x x
y y
(a) Top up
x Top (c) (d) (e) x Top (j)
30 mm

z 60 z
Thickness (µm)

Sample 50
40
35 um 30
4.6 mm 20
30 mm Bottom up (f) Top up 10
0
19 17 15 13 11 9 7 5 3 1
(b) Top Film Number
y x OCT 4.6 mm
Depth Specs
Bottom
z
Thickness (µm)

60
50
40
NOT 30
TO 4.6 mm Bottom up 20
(g) 10
SCALE 0
19 17 15 13 11 9 7 5 3 1
Film Number

Bottom Top up Bottom up

Bottom x x Bottom
y y
Incident beam
(h) (i)

Fig. 6 Full depth SS-OCT imaging and metrology of a layered GRIN polymeric sheet. (a) is a photograph of the sample; (b) is volumetric rendering
of a 3D OCT data set of the sample over its full depth, acquired by the SS-OCT utilizing a Santec swept-source in August 2012; (c) and (j) are two
cross-sectional OCT images taken when the beam is incident from the top and the bottom surface of the sheet, respectively; (d)–(e) and (h)–(i) are
two pairs of en face OCT images of approximately the same locations of the sample taken when the beam is incident from the top and the bottom
surface of the sheet, respectively, the locations of the en face slices being marked by the dashed boxes in (c) and (j); (f)–(g) are the layer thickness
profiles of the bottom 19 layers measured from the two OCT data sets taken when the beam is incident from the top and the bottom surface of the
sheet respectively.

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 Yao et al.: Nondestructive metrology by optical coherence tomography empowering manufacturing iterations. . .
features of lines and particles, respectively. In addition, we
also measured the thicknesses of the bottom 19 layers from
both the “top up” and the “bottom up” data sets, and the
results are plotted in Fig. 6(f) to 6(g), which show similar
profiles for both measurements with a small deviation caused
by the slight mismatch between the measuring positions of
the “top up” and the “bottom up” data sets. Nevertheless, the
excellent correlation between the two data sets in terms of
both the images of the internal structure and the measured
layer thickness profiles supports the high fidelity of the cus-
tom, high-end, OCT metrology developed in our laboratory.
4 Summary
In summary, we have provided a chronological review of the
unique capability of OCT in guiding the manufacturing iter-
ations of layered polymeric samples, particularly exempli-
fied by the introduction of the compatibilization technique
and the refinement in the compression process that improved
the light transmission of optical components as well as the
layer thickness uniformity. By enabling nondestructive high-
resolution 3D characterization of the internal structure of
GRIN material and components over extended depth as well
as the accurate layer thickness metrology of these samples,
OCT carries the potential of providing in-line manufacturing
metrology.
Current work focuses on extending the methods to mea-
sure various GRIN components as they gain in value
throughout the manufacturing process. On the horizon is
the emerging capability of OCT to extract the refractive
index profiles of the polymeric GRIN samples. In the latter,
the challenge arises from the fact that, in practice, both
refractive index and physical thickness of the internal film
layers are unknown. Therefore, a technique enabling simul-
taneous measurements of the refractive index and thickness
of each layer is being pursued.
Acknowledgments
We acknowledge the NYSTAR Foundation grant C050070
for the support to build the OCT lab in Rochester NY
2009-2012 on which this research was founded. We thank
the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
for supporting this work and the DARPA team for their
appreciation and support of the science component of this
program. This research was conducted as part of a larger
team of partners, led by Neri Shatz and Steven Pierce of
SAIC, whom we thank for stimulating discussions over the
last 2 years of this program and for presenting us with chal-
lenging tasks. We thank Kevin Thompson of Synopsys
Corporation for inviting us on the program to lead novel met-
rology for GRIN materials. We further thank Mike Ponting
of PolymerPlus and his team for the manufacturing of the
components investigated under this research and for their
leadership in the refinement of the manufacturing process.
This research also benefitted from stimulating discussion
with Kevin Thompson and John Rogers from Synopsys
Corporation, Eric Baer, the lead inventor of the GRIN
material, and Guy Beadie from the Navy Research Lab.
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Jianing Yao is currently a PhD candidate
in the Institute of Optics, University of
Rochester. She received her BS degree
in electronic science and technology from
Tianjin University, China, in 2009. Her
research interests focus on the development
of OCT methodology and instrumentation
for the metrology of optical components,
particularly 3D imaging and quantitative mea-
surements of thickness and refractive index
profiles of layered GRIN materials.
Panomsak Meemon is currently a lecturer
at the School of Laser Technology and
Photonics, Institute of Science, Suranaree
University of Technology, Thailand. His
research topics involve development of optical
imaging systems, focusing on optical coher-
ence tomography (OCT), for tissue diagnos-
tics and material metrology. The biomedical
imaging applications include real-time flow
imaging and monitoring, high-resolution 3D
tomography, and optical 3D reconstruction.
The research on material metrology involves high-precision optical
ranging, 3D imaging of layered materials, surface and thickness topog-
raphy of materials, 3D refractive index mapping.He conductedresearch
related to the metrology of GRIN materials from 2010 to 2011 at the
Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester. He received his MS
and PhD in optics from CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics,
University of Central Florida (USA), and a BEng in electrical engineering
from the Faculty of Engineering, Chiang Mai University, Thailand
(https://sites.google.com/site/pmeemon/).
112111-8 November 2013/Vol. 52(11)
 Yao et al.: Nondestructive metrology by optical coherence tomography empowering manufacturing iterations. . .

Kye-Sung Lee is currently a senior scientist Théorique et Appliquée, Bordeaux, France. Jannick Rolland earned
at Center for Analytical Instrumentation an Optical Engineering Diploma from the Institut D'Optique, France,
Development in Korea Basic Science Insti- and a PhD in optical science from the College of Optical Sciences at
tute. He earned an Electronics Diploma the University of Arizona. Professor Rolland serves as co-Chair of the
and Master’s degree from Kyungpook OSA Topical Meeting on Optical Fabrication and Testing since 2008.
National University, South Korea, and a She is a NYSTAR Fellow and a Fellow of OSA and SPIE. She is a
PhD in optics from the College of Optics Director at Large on the OSA Board of Directors (2010-2013).
and Photonics at the University of Central
Florida in 2008. He conducted research
related to optical imaging for biological, medi-
cal, and material specimen from 2009 to
2012 at the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester. He
has over 10 years of expertise in the theory of OCT and building
state-of-the-art OCT systems. He is interested in developing suitable
optical systems to analyze various natures’ phenomena in biology,
chemistry, physics, space, etc.

Jannick P. Rolland is the Brian J. Thompson

Professor of Optical Engineering at the Insti-
tute of Optics at the University of Rochester
where she directs the NSF/IUCRC Center for
Freeform Optics (CeFO), the R.E. Hopkins
Center for Optical Design and Engineering,
and the ODALab (www.odalab-spectrum
.org). She holds appointments in the Depart-
ment of Biomedical Engineering and in the
Center for Visual Science. She is also an
invited professor at the Institut D’Optique

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