Modeling microcylinder-assisted conventional, interference and confocal microscopy

We present how to develop virtual microcylinder- or microsphere-assisted surface topography measurement instruments. As the most critical part, the interaction between light, microcylinder and measurement object is considered based on the finite element method (FEM). Results are obtained for microcylinder-assisted conventional, interference, and confocal microscopes without necessity to repeat the time-consuming FEM simulations for each sensor.