Sub Aperture Polishing of Fused Silica Aspheric Surface Using Dwell Time Approach

Aspheric surfaces are the desired surfaces for an optical designer due to their ability to control aberration effects using less number of surfaces. Traditional full aperture polishing methods are not suitable for aspheric surface polishing. The present paper describes the sub aperture polishing of aspheric surface in Fused Silica using dwell time approach. The linear feed rate has been optimized to produce optical quality surface finish using less number of iterations. The surface characterization is done using stylus profilometer and optical profilometer.