Summary of Synthetic Lap Polishing Experiments at LLNL, FY95
The purpose of this research was to support the optics finishing development work for the NIF, the National Ignition Facility. One of the major expenses for the construction of NIF is the cost of finishing of the large aperture optics. One way to significantly reduce the cost of the project is to develop processes to reduce the amount of time necessary to polish the more than 3,000 amplifier slabs. These slabs are rectangular with an aspect ratio of more than twenty to one and are made of a very temperature sensitive glass, Nd doped phosphate laser glass. As a result of this effort, we could potentially reduce the time necessary to polish each surface of an amplifier from 20-30 hours of run time to under an hour to achieve the same removal and still maintain a flatness of between one to three waves concave figure. We also feel confident that we can polish rectangular thermally sensitive glass flat by use of temperature control of the polishing platen, pad curvature, slurry concentration with temperature control, pad rotation, and pressure; although further, larger scale experiments are necessary to gain sufficient confidence that such a procedure could be successfully fielded.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 15005987
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-JC-146026; TRN: US0400199
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 3rd American Precision Optical Manufacturer's Association Optical Fabrication Workshop, Rochester, NY (US), 11/05/2001--11/06/2001; Other Information: PBD: 15 Oct 2001
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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