ATM Super polish with -- Teflon!

[Dave Gault <daveg@tpg.com.au>]

G'day Bill

>I've heard that some pro's super polish with Teflon.
>Sounds easier than the cryogenic approach!
>Anybody know about this?

I called into Francis Lord Optics in Sydney, to pick up a freshly
aluminised mirror, the fellow there had some photos of some optics he
and a team from CSIRO had been working on for the LIGO (Laser
Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory). This has what is claimed
to be the smoothest optics in the world..... See letters S&T March 2001
page16.   Photos of one of the optics in S&T October 2000 page 44.

One photo showed what seemed to be a polishing tool with white "pitch"
squares and when asked the fellow told me that the tool was made from
teflon and was used in the final figuring stages.   The tool was first
conditioned on a pyrex disk of the desired ROC of the optic.  The pyrex
conditioner was then examined  by interferometery before the tool was
used on the optic.   I don't think any polishing compound was used, just
glass, teflon and friction.

By memory one optic, maybee the one in S&T had a ROC measured on
kilometers......
--
Regards
Dave
http://www4.tpgi.com.au/users/daveg/index.html