Computer Controlled Optical Surfacing of Bare Beryllium Aspheric Optics

Tinsley Laboratories, a subsidiary of SSG Inc., proposes a Phase 2 SBIR program to increase the efficiency of manufacturing bare Beryllium mirrors using its proprietary deterministic Computer Controlled Optical Surfacing (CCOS) process. Over the last 25 years, this process has demonstrated the capability to produce state-of-the-art aspheric optics, including extensive work with bare Beryllium aspheric reflectors. In the Phase 1 SBIR study, a process involving tool dressing assisted CCOS grinding generated material removal rates that were more linear than the standard CCOS grinding process. The Phase 2 effort proposes to investigate additional parameters of the tool assisted CCOS process with a goal of achieving >2x reduction in total processing time. Increased efficiency, and reduced costs, are key drivers as next generation astronomical and earth observing applications are being driven to larger and larger telescope apertures. Beryllium optics are a key technology for these large aperture system designs, due to the material?s high specific stiffness and aggressively lightweighting capabilities. The process optimization that we propose will make Beryllium optics more cost effective for these applications, in this way allowing system designs to benefit from the superior bulk material properties associated with the material.