Optical Measurement of Surface Topography

The measurement and characterisation of surface topography is crucial to modern manufacturing industry. The control of areal surface structure allows a manufacturer to radically alter the functionality of a part. Examples include structuring to effect fluidics, optics, tribology, aerodynamics and biology. To control such manu­facturing methods requires measurement strategies. There is now a large range of new optical techniques on the market, or being developed in academia, that can measure...