This time, we briefly talk about some of the contents of optical machining methods. After the optical design is completed, the optical element is the material carrier of the system performance, and the optical element that cannot be processed is good in design but cannot be realized.

This article gives a brief introduction to optical processing according to the size of optical components.

1. Very large size optical components/systems (>3m)

Optical components of this level are mainly used in astronomical telescope systems. Due to the optical problems caused by the increase in volume, optical machining components are basically reflective, that is, large-scale optical components are mirrors. Also due to the large size, splicing to achieve large size is also the most commonly used technology.

There are only a handful of countries in the world that can process mirrors of this level. The United States, Germany, France, Japan, China, etc. have the processing capability of mirrors of this size.

Of course, there is still a gap between our country and foreign countries in this regard, and continuous efforts are needed. At present, the largest mirror in space is the Herschel telescope in the infrared band. The diameter of the mirror is 3.5 meters, and the material is silicon carbide. Related reports in 2022 show that the Changguang Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a 4M-scale silicon carbide aspheric total reflection mirror. The Hale with a diameter of 5 meters in the world was built by the United States in 1948. The diameter of the largest optical manufacturing reflector currently in service in my country is 2.5 meters. The planned 12-meter reflector is still in the stage of controversy. I hope it can be implemented as soon as possible. Through the project time Develop teams and talent.

The James Webb telescope launched just last year has a mirror diameter of 6.5 meters, but it is a spliced telescope, and the size of the single mirror is limited.

Optical cnc machining of this magnitude is basically a challenge for the entire link from materials, processing to detection, assembly and maintenance, and because it is used for scientific research such as the origin of the universe, the commercial value is not enough, and it is mainly invested by countries around the world.

This level of processing technology is basically customized and developed, and it is not universal. Of course, the main reason is that the author does not know the details.

1.1 Typical application:

ground observation telescope
survey telescope
space exploration telescope