LASER PROCESSING OF OPTICAL-SURFACES

The possibility of cleaning the optical surfaces of quartz and glass a rticles in vacuum with a continuous ray of a CO2 laser is examined the oretically and experimentally. Calculations for nonsteady-state heatin g of the samples ensured that the time taken by the surface to pass th rough the beam, the radiation density, and the overall time needed for cleaning were optimized. A comparison of the surface profiles of the samples showed that the optical properties of the surface could be imp roved substantially.