In-process monitoring of grinding and polishing of optical surfaces.
A new tool with which to monitor the quality (roughness and subsurface damage) of optical surfaces during grinding and polishing, intensity-detecting total internal reflection microscopy (iTIRM), is presented. A general description of the new measurement method is given, followed by a description of the experimental in situ measurement setup. Experimental results of the method are presented that demonstrate that iTIRM can be used either to control the roughness-reduction process during production or to investigate the process itself. The possibility of implementing the method in an optical workshop is discussed.
van der Bijl
R J
RJ
Delft Centre for Optical Surfaces, TNO Institute of Applied Physics, P.O. Box 155, 2600 AD Delft, The Netherlands. bijl@optica.tn.tudelft.nl
Fähnle
O W
OW
van Brug
H
H
Braat
J J
JJ