High Volume, Low-Cost Production Process for High-grade Silicon Carbide Optics

The following proposal summarizes the process by which Trex Enterprises will utilize our patented CVC (Chemical Vapor Composite) SiC process towards the fabrication of near net shape lightweight SiC mirrors with high optical performance for both the surface figure and surface roughness of the as-deposited mirror. The as-deposited surface figure and roughness will be optimized through careful selection and preparation processes applied to a variety of mandrel structures and designs. The CVC process replicates the current mandrel surface precisely and this work will look to explore and quantify optically the absolute limits of the surface replication potential of the CVC process. Once this surface has been characterized and optimized, we will then be in a position to either move directly to polishing or eliminate the polishing stage completely from our mirror fabrication process. The savings in both time and cost would greatly improve both the cost of high performance SiC optics as well as reduce the long lead time from many months to as little as several weeks.