Abstract
The stressed-lap polishing technique has been developed to meet the challenge of polishing 8-m-class mirrors with highly aspheric figures to an accuracy consistent with the best ground-based telescope sites. The method is currently being demonstrated in the polishing of two primary mirrors, a 1.8-m f/1.0 ellipsoid and a 3.5-m f/1.5 paraboloid. The figure accuracies achieved at the time of writing are 43 nm rms surface error for the 1.8-m mirror, and 190 nm rms surface error for the 3.5-m mirror. Polishing is proceeding on both mirrors. In this paper we describe the process used for the 3.5-m mirror and the progress through the early stages of fabrication. We also summarize progress on the 1.8-m mirror.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 260-269 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering |
| Volume | 1531 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1 1992 |
| Event | Advanced Optical Manufacturing and Testing II 1991 - San Diego, United States Duration: Jul 21 1991 → … |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Computer Science Applications
- Applied Mathematics
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering