A technique is provided for monitoring and controlling surface contaminants on optical elements contained within the optical path (or sub-path) of an optical metrology instrument. The technique may be utilized in one embodiment in such a manner as to not require that additional components and/or instrumentation be coupled to, or integrated into, existing metrology equipment. Surface contaminants on optical elements within an optical metrology instrument are monitored so that cleaning procedures can be performed as deemed necessary. The cleaning procedures may include the use of exposing the optical elements to optical radiation. The optical metrology instrument may be an instrument which operates at wavelengths that include vacuum ultra-violet (VUV) wavelengths.