Science Explorer Interactive view Map

Surface Roughness and Optical Measurements

Surface Roughness and Optical Measurements is a research topic within Computational Mechanics. Science Explorer counts 33k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the characterization and measurement of surface roughness in optical components, utilizing techniques such as fractal analysis, machine vision, scattering theory, and thin film analysis. The research covers topics such as surface roughness measurement, power spectral density analysis, micromorphology characterization, and the application of image processing for evaluating surface roughness.

  • Surface Characterization
  • Roughness Measurement
  • Optical Components
  • Fractal Analysis
  • Machine Vision
  • Scattering Theory
  • Thin Film Analysis
  • Micromorphology
  • Power Spectral Density
  • Image Processing
Research works
33k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
3.3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+1%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Surface Roughness and Optical Measurements research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (1.5k and 356 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 1.5k works
  2. 2 United States 356 works
  3. 3 Germany 215 works
  4. 4 Japan 201 works
  5. 5 Russia 172 works
  6. 6 India 168 works
  7. 7 South Korea 124 works
  8. 8 France 106 works
  9. 9 Taiwan 90 works
  10. 10 United Kingdom 71 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 49.1%United States: 12.0%Germany: 7.3%Japan: 6.8%6 others listed: 24.7%49%largest
China1,451 · 49.1%United States356 · 12.0%Germany215 · 7.3%Japan201 · 6.8%6 others listed731 · 24.7%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Surface Roughness and Optical Measurements research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Huazhong University of Science and Technology publishes the most Surface Roughness and Optical Measurements research, followed by Harbin Institute of Technology and Chinese Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Huazhong University of Science and Technology China 35 works
  2. 2 Harbin Institute of Technology China 33 works
  3. 3 Chinese Academy of Sciences China 24 works
  4. 4 Tsinghua University China 23 works
  5. 5 BOE Technology Group (China) China 22 works
  6. 6 Shanghai Jiao Tong University China 21 works
  7. 7 Tianjin University China 20 works
  8. 8 Xi'an Jiaotong University China 19 works
  9. 9 Beijing Institute of Technology China 17 works
  10. 10 Zhejiang University China 17 works

Who are the leading researchers in Surface Roughness and Optical Measurements?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Surface Roughness and Optical Measurements include Akihisa Inoue.

  1. 1 Akihisa Inoue 4.7k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Surface Roughness and Optical Measurements research done?

The largest centres of Surface Roughness and Optical Measurements research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Xi'an (China) and Wuhan (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Hsinchu.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 249 works
  2. 2 Shanghai China 116 works
  3. 3 Xi'an China 85 works
  4. 4 Wuhan China 83 works
  5. 5 Tokyo Japan 71 works
  6. 6 Moscow Russia 59 works
  7. 7 Nanjing China 59 works
  8. 8 Tianjin China 56 works
  9. 9 Seoul South Korea 54 works
  10. 10 Harbin China 53 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. HsinchuTW · 20.2 works6.3×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Surface Roughness and Optical Measurements than the world average.

See Surface Roughness and Optical Measurements on the map

Where is the best place to study Surface Roughness and Optical Measurements?

Among universities, judged by research, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology and Hefei University of Technology score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 19.22%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Huazhong University of Science and Technology: 35, 25.4%Harbin Institute of Technology: 33, 12.5%Hefei University of Technology: 15, 13.9%Northeastern University: 10, 47.5%Harbin University of Science and Technology: 9, 14.2%Changchun University of Science and Technology: 14, 3.1%University of Science and Technology Beijing: 12, 25.8%Beijing Institute of Technology: 17, 19.1%Xi'an Jiaotong University: 19, 13.3%Hunan University: 11, 17.4%Northeastern Univers…Huazhong University …Hefei University of …Harbin Institute of …
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Huazhong University of Science and Technology China 57.725.4%6.0×35 +39.1%
2Harbin Institute of Technology China 45.212.5%5.5×33 +17.4%
3Hefei University of Technology China 42.113.9%7.5×15 +27.6%
4Northeastern University China 39.247.5%2.9×10 -31.0%
5Harbin University of Science and Technology China 38.114.2%12.4×9 -11.4%
6Changchun University of Science and Technology China 36.53.1%16.2×14 -6.0%
7University of Science and Technology Beijing China 34.625.8%3.9×12 +15.9%
8Beijing Institute of Technology China 34.319.1%3.9×17 -1.2%
9Xi'an Jiaotong University China 33.913.3%3.1×19 +47.8%
10Hunan University China 33.017.4%4.2×11 +52.6%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Surface Roughness and Optical Measurements research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 1% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2024.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.