Ultra-precision surface polishing using ion beam figuring

Contrary to conventional mechanical polishing methods using polyurethane or pitch tool, non-contact polishing technique based on ion beam sputtering provides deterministic and ultra-precision surfacing at any given surfaces. Owing to no contact between a tool and a workpiece, several issues related to tool wear and edge effects can be evitable. Moreover, the atomic level sputtering makes it possible to obtain ultra-precision optical surfaces with a sub-nanometer surface roughness. In this paper, we have simulated ion beam figuring process according to the characteristics of ion beam and performed a simple test.