Pad and planetary polishing for rapid fabrication of spherical surfaces

Abstract

The development of techniques for the rapid production of flats using polishing with a polyurethane pad was previously reported.1 The pad polishing is usually followed with brief (less than one hour) final finishing on a planetary polisher. Optics up to about 200 mm square can be handled with available equipment at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). This approach has become our standard production technique.