Machining of Optical Components.

Optical components have for many years been machined with single-crystal diamonds and by this means surfaces with very low roughness and only minor form defects, e. g. Ra equals 5 nm or 254 nm are obtained. The spectrum of machined materials, in particular for the optical industry, includes aluminum, brass, silver, boron, gold, beryllium copper and other copper alloys, chemical nickel, graphite, plastics, silicones, germanium, zinc alloys, lithium-niobium alloys, gallium arsenide etc. This paper gives manufacturing examples and describes modern machine tools for optics.