Chemo-Mechanical Polishing of Phosphate Glass as a Pretreatment to Rapid Final Polishing

It is well known that the use of one or more chemical etching steps during the fabrication cycle of glass-like materials reduces the subsurface damage introduced by loose and bound abrasive grinding. The etchant removes the outermost layer which consists of subsurface cracks and residual elastic strain. We are interested in applying this technique to a commercial phosphate laser glass as a means of increasing its thermal fracture resistance and reducing the time required for final polishing.