Design of a Fast Long Range Actuator - FLORA II

INTRODUCTION The objective of this NSF sponsored research is to develop machinery to fabricate NonRotationally Symmetric (NRS) optical surfaces. NRS surfaces have typically been machined using very slow spindle speeds or actuators with a limited range of several hundred μm. This means only limited surface features can be machine or the process takes a long time. A Fast LOng Range Actuator (FLORA) has been constructed [1] with a goal of machining NRS surfaces with a range of motion of ± 2 mm at 20 Hz. For the surface to have the same quality as conventional diamond turning machines the surface must have a form error of less than 150 nm peak-to-valley and a surface finish of 5 nm RMS.