NANOMETER PRECISION IN LARGE SURFACE PROFILOMETRY

The Long Trace Profiler (LTP) is in use at many synchrotron radiation (SR) laboratories throughout the world and by a number of manufacturers who specialize in fabricating grazing incidence mirrors for SR and x-ray telescope applications. Recent improvements in the design and operation of the LTP system have reduced the statistical error in slope profile measurement to the 1 standard deviation level of 0.3 microradian for 0.5 meter long mirrors. This corresponds to a height error on the order of 10-20 nanometers. This level of performance allows one to measure with confidence the absolute shape of large cylindrical aspheres and spheres that have kilometer radii of curvature in the axial direction. The LTP is versatile enough to make measurements of a mirror in the face up, sideways, and face down configurations. We will illustrate the versatility of the current version of the instrument, the LTP II, and present results from two new versions of the instrument: the in situ LTP (ISLTP) and the Vertical Scan LTP (VSLTP). Both of them are based on the penta prism LTP (ppLTP) principle that utilizes a stationary optical head and moving penta prism. The ISLTP is designed to measure the distortion of high heat load mirrors during actual operation in SR beam lines. The VSLTP is designed to measure the complete 3-dimensional shape of x-ray telescope cylinder mirrors and mandrels in a vertical configuration. Scans are done both in the axial direction and in the azimuthal direction