System and method of measuring and mapping three dimensional structures

1. A system, comprising:

a projecting optical system adapted to project light onto an object;

a pre-correction system adapted to compensate a light beam to be projected onto the object for at least one aberration in the object;

an imaging system adapted to collect light scattered by the object; and

a wavefront sensor adapted to receive the light collected by the imaging system and to sense a wavefront of the received light,

wherein the pre-correction system includes at least one variable focal length lens.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the pre-correction system includes a processor controlling the at least one variable focal length lens.

3. A system, comprising:

a projecting optical system adapted to project light onto an object;

a pre-correction system adapted to compensate a light beam to be projected onto the object for at least one aberration in the object, the pre-correction system being positioned in between the projecting optical system and the object;

an imaging system adapted to collect light scattered by the object

a wavefront sensor adapted to receive the light collected by the imaging system and to sense a wavefront of the received light;

means for adjusting the compensation applied to the light beam by the pre-correction system to thereby change the wavefront of the light received by the wavefront sensor; and

means for stitching together the sensed wavefronts of the light received by the wavefront sensor for each compensation to map a surface of the object,

wherein the pre-correction system comprises a telescope having two lenses, at least one of said lenses being movable, and

wherein the means for stitching further comprises a processor, said processor further being adapted to move said movable lens to a plurality of positions and to stitch together the sensed wavefronts of the light received by the wavefront sensor at each of the positions.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the wavefront sensor is a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor.

5. The system of claim 3 , further comprising a dynamic-range-limiting aperture adapted to insure that the wavefront sensor only sees light within a dynamic range of the system.

6. A method, comprising:

(a) projecting a light beam onto an object;

(b) compensating the light beam to be projected onto the object for at least one aberration in the object;

(c) collecting light scattered by the object and providing the collected light to a wavefront sensor;

(d) sensing at the wavefront sensor a wavefront of the collected light scattered by the object;

(e) changing a compensation applied to the light beam;

(f) repeating steps (b) through (e) to obtain N sensed wavefronts; and

(g) stitching together the N sensed wavefronts to map the object,

wherein compensating the light beam comprises passing the light beam through a telescope having two lenses, at least one of said lenses being movable, and

wherein changing a compensation applied to the light beam comprises moving said movable lens to a plurality of positions; and wherein stitching together the N sensed wavefronts to map the object comprises stitching together the sensed wavefronts of the light received by the wavefront sensor at each of the positions.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising passing the light scattered from the object through a dynamic-range-limiting aperture adapted to insure that the wavefront sensor only sees light within a dynamic range of the wavefront sensor.

8. A method, comprising:

(a) projecting a light beam onto a surface of an object;

(b) collecting light scattered by a first portion of the surface of the object and rejecting light scattered by a second portion of the surface of the object;

(c) sensing at a wavefront sensor a wavefront of the collected light returned by the portion of the surface of the object;

(d) repeating steps (a) through (c) for a plurality of different portions of the surface of the object that together span a target area of the surface of the object; and

(e) stitching together the sensed wavefronts to produce a complete measurement of the target area of the surface of the object.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein collecting light scattered by a first portion of the surface of the object and rejecting light scattered by a second portion of the surface of the object comprises passing the light scattered by the first and second portions through a dynamic-range-limiting aperture adapted to insure that the wavefront sensor only sees light within a dynamic range of the wavefront sensor.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein collecting light scattered by a first portion of the surface of the object comprises passing through a telescope having two lenses the light scattered by a first portion of the surface of the object, at least one of said lenses being movable, and wherein repeating steps (a) through (c) for a plurality of different portions of the surface of the object comprises moving the movable lens to a plurality of different positions.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein collecting light scattered by a first portion of the surface of the object and rejecting light scattered by a second portion of the surface of the object comprises passing the light scattered by the first and second portions through a dynamic-range-limiting aperture disposed in an optical path between the first and second lenses, the dynamic-range-limiting aperture being adapted to insure that the wavefront sensor only sees light within a dynamic range of the wavefront sensor.

12. A method, comprising:

(a) locating a light source a first distance from an object;

(b) projecting a light beam from the light source onto a surface of the object;

(c) collecting light scattered by the surface of the object;

(d) sensing at a wavefront sensor a wavefront comprising a difference between a wavefront of the collected light and a reference wavefront;

(e) changing the distance between the light source and the object;

(f) repeating steps (b) through (e) to produce N sensed wavefronts; and

(g) stitching together the N sensed wavefronts to produce a complete measurement of the target area of the surface of the object.

13. A system, comprising:

a projecting optical system adapted to project light onto an object;

a pre-correction system adapted to compensate a light beam to be projected onto the object for at least one aberration in the object, the pre-correction system being positioned in between the projecting optical system and the object;

an imaging system adapted to collect light scattered by the object;

a wavefront sensor adapted to receive the light collected by the imaging system and to sense a wavefront of the received light; and

a dynamic-range-limiting aperture adapted to insure that the wavefront sensor only sees light within a dynamic range of the system,

wherein the pre-correction system is also located in an optical path from the object to the wavefront sensor,

wherein the pre-correction system includes at least one variable focal length lens.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the pre-correction system includes a processor controlling the at least one variable focal length lens.