TEFLON LAPS - SOME NEW DEVELOPMENTS AND RESULTS

The process of superpolishing with Teflon laps has enabled supersmooth [< 0. 1 nm rms) and extremely flat (lambda/100) optical surfaces to b e produced on a large range of amorphous and crystalline optical mater ials. Stable surface conditions and the very low wear of a Teflon lap during polishing provide an opportunity to examine the effects of vary ing different polishing parameters. These include sample-to-lap mismat ch and the influence of different polishing compounds and fluid chemis try. The results show that when large optical flats are superpolished with Teflon laps, microroughness, subsurface damage, and scattering ca n be minimized and reliably and consistently predicted for a wide vari ety of optical materials, while extremely flat surfaces are simultaneo usly achieved.