Topographical Measurements of micro-structured, flexible and soft optical components in water immersion

The ageing population and increasing demand for high standards in medical supplies are driving forces for the development of high performance optical vision aids, particularly for contact lenses (CL) and intra-ocular lenses (IOLs). Specifically for these lenses completely new designs, such as "multi-focal" or "extended-depth-of-focus" approaches were developed and imply complex optical surfaces such as diffractive or free-form elements. Also the manufacturing of theses lenses is associated with higher requirements on measurement technologies. From the wide range of optical measurement techniques in dry conditions, e.g. for hard contact lenses, the appropriate instruments can easily be chosen. The measurement of soft lenses is related to more difficulties due to the need of moist or wet immersion conditions. A technical and analytical solution is shown to measure and determine these complex structures within their actual environment. Even large areas and surface roughness can be measured with correspondingly high resolution. The provided data serve the practical and applicative demand for quality control under research and industrial requirements.