To satisfy the worldwide demand for large ultra-precision optical surfaces, a fast process chain - grinding, polishing and plasma figuring- has been established by the Precision Engineering Institute at Cranfield University. ...

The main aim of this work was the machining by hard turning of surfaces with optical surface quality. A numerical target had been set as a surface roughness Ra = 10nm. It has been shown that achieving roughness of that ...

Activated plasma figuring using microwaves aims at providing highly efficient activated energy beams for rapid fabrication of optics. The chemical nature of this type of energy beam leads to targeting silicon-based ...

Results on reactive atom plasma etching performed on ULE® (Corning Ultra Low Expansion) glass samples at atmospheric pressure are presented for the first time. A reactive atomic plasma technology (RAPT®), has been developed ...

This paper presents a method for optimizing the performance of a real-time, long term, and accurate accelerometer based displacement measurement technique, with no physical reference point. The technique was applied in a ...

The fields of astronomy science have presented significant precision engineering challenges. Numerous solutions for these fields of science have achieved unprecedented levels of accuracy, sensitivity and sheer scale. ...

Large scale nuclear fusion and astronomy scientific programmes have increased the demand for large freeform mirrors and lenses. Thousands of one metre class, high quality aspherical optical components are required within ...

A new surface figuring machine called Helios 1200 is presented in this paper. It is designed for the figuring of meter sized optical surfaces with form accuracy correction capability better than 20 nm rms within a reduced ...

The total process cycle time for large ULE®and Zerodur®optics can be improved using a precise and rapid grinding process, with low levels of surface waviness and subsurface damage. In this paper, the amounts of defects ...

In 2012, plasma figuring was proven to be an alternative solution for the fabrication of large scale ultra-precise optical surfaces. Indeed, plasma figuring was successfully demonstrated on a metre class glass surface. The ...