Surface figure control in fine rotation grinding process of thick silicon mirror.

With the rapid development of high-energy laser system, thick silicon mirror, as an important optical component to reflect laser, is required to have a surface with micron-level flatness, which poses significant challenges to silicon mirror manufacture process. Fine rotation grinding (FRG) is a typical efficient method for silicon mirror manufacture. A geometric model is developed in this paper to research silicon mirror surface figure control mechanism in FRG process. The model demonstrates the relationship between the grinding spindle obliquity and the mirror surface figure. From an application perspective, the relationship between the spindle obliquity and the spindle dial gauge indication is further presented. Based on this model, a MATLAB program is designed to give a series of simulation results for researching spindle adjustment regularity and getting the most ideal spindle obliquity. Besides, several grinding experiments are carried out. The simulation and experiment results are in good agreement, and a silicon mirror surface with the flatness of less than 2 μm is achieved. The proposed grinding geometric model can provide an actual guide for grinding spindle adjustment to control the surface figure of silicon mirror. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]