Deflectometry for specular surfaces: an overview

Deflectometry as a technical approach to assessing reflective surfaces has now existed for almost 40 years. Different aspects and variations of the method have been studied in multiple theses and research articles, and reviews are also becoming available for certain subtopics. Still a field of active development with many unsolved problems, deflectometry now encompasses a large variety of application domains, hardware setup types, and processing workflows designed for different purposes, and spans a range from qualitative defect inspection of large vehicles to precision measurements of microscopic optics. Over these years, many exciting developments have accumulated in the underlying theory, in the systems design, and in the implementation specifics. This diversity of topics is difficult to grasp for experts and non-experts alike and may present an obstacle to a wider acceptance of deflectometry as a useful tool in other research fields and in the industry. This paper presents an attempt to summarize the status of deflectometry, and to map relations between its notable "spin-off" branches. The intention of the paper is to provide a common communication basis for practitioners and at the same time to offer a convenient entry point for those interested in learning and using the method. The list of references is extensive but definitely not exhaustive, introducing some prominent trends and established research groups in order to facilitate further self-directed exploration by the reader.