High-precision processing method for an aluminum mirror assisted with a femtosecond laser.

At present, aluminum-based optical payloads are widely used in the aviation and aerospace field, and the demand for aluminum mirrors has become increasingly urgent in the visible light region. The main processing of an aluminum alloy mirror involves single-point diamond turning followed by a combined polishing process. Among these processes, magnetorheological finishing (MRF) is an important method for improving a surface figure. During the MRF process, excessive impurity contaminants are introduced into the surface of the aluminum mirror, thereby reducing surface reflectivity. In this paper, theoretical analysis and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry depth profiling were used to obtain the cause of pollution, and the process scheme of femtosecond laser cleaning was proposed. After verifying the feasibility, a new, to the best of our knowledge, process route was implemented on a Φ50mm aluminum mirror. Finally, the surface figure of RMS 0.022λ and the surface roughness of Ra 3.24 nm were obtained. In addition, reflectance in the visible light and near-infrared bands has increased by about 50%.

Study on the surface crystallization mechanism and inhibition method in the CMP process of aluminum alloy mirrors.

Owing to its material properties, aluminum-based optical loads are widely used in the aerospace field. At present, the main processing of an aluminum alloy mirror is single-point diamond turning followed by the combined polishing process. The surface will generate some white crystals during the chemical mechanical polishing process (CMP). These crystals can affect the improvement of surface quality and seriously reduce the processing efficiency of the whole process. In view of the above problems, four main factors of crystallization are obtained by interface theoretical analysis, Visual MINTEQ simulation of chemical morphological distribution, and experimental analysis. They are temperature, PH value of polishing fluid, solid-liquid contact angle, and impurity content of aluminum alloy. The crystallization phenomenon in the polishing process is successfully suppressed by improving the polishing process and selecting new materials. The experimental results showed that the surface roughness decreased from 7.21 to 2.98 nm without crystallization using the new method.