Production and measurement of superpolished surfaces

The influence of polishing time on the roughness of ultrasmooth bowl-feed-polished surfaces is studied. A large improvement of the surface quality is obtained within the first 10 minutes, but increasing the polishing time from 10 to 60 minutes did not yield a significant difference. A Linnik interference miscroscope, adapted for phase-shifting interferometry, was used for roughness measurements. Preliminary measurements have been performed with a setup determining the scattered intensity within a small solid angle. This relatively simple setup, which is also suitable for uncoated glass surfaces, clearly showed the improvement of surface quality by bowl-feed polishing.