POLISHING HIGH HEAT LOAD MIRRORS

The need for high heat load optics has its origin in high-energy laser systems designed in the 1970s and 1980s. The advancement of these sys tems to shorter wavelengths and higher flux levels and the inclusion o f aspheric surfaces provided the early impetus for developing optics w ith advanced internal heat exchanger designs and for improved processe s for polishing and testing associated optical surfaces. Today this te chnology continues to evolve for use in third-generation synchrotron b eamlines, an emerging scientific application offering far-reaching imp lications for materials research, pharmaceutical development, micromac hining, and integrated circuits. Components for these applications req uire grazing incidence optical prescriptions and special polishing tec hniques, often leading to the construction of new equipment and the de velopment of suitable polishing processes and optical test procedures. An overview is provided of the advancing state of polishing and testi ng techniques supporting a developing class of high heat load optical components characterized by rigorous slope error tolerances and demand ing surface roughness specifications.