Abstract

A new scheme for phase control of optical components with laser ablation has been developed. One can ablate the surface shape of optical plastic material coated on a glass plate by using 193-nm laser light to control the transmission wave front. The surface shape is monitored in situ and corrected to attain the desired aberration level. The irradiation fluence is approximately 40 mJ/cm², and the ablation depth/pulse is approximately 0.01 µm/pulse for UV-cured resin. A wave-front aberration of 3.0 λ is reduced to 0.17 λ for flat surface shaping. For spherical surface generation, an aberration of 2.5 λ is reduced to 0.2 λ. The increase in surface roughness is kept within acceptable levels.

© 1999 Optical Society of America

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