Feature

Stressed-Lap Polishing of Large, Fast Aspheres

H. M. Martin

The present decade is the setting for a renaissance in the design and construction of ground-based optical and infrared telescopes. A number of projects worldwide will use primary mirrors 8 m in diameter or larger.1 Demands of economy and performance drive these telescopes to short focal lengths. The cost of both the telescope and its enclosure increase rapidly with focal length, and the telescope's stiffness and tracking accuracy benefit from shorter length.

Publish Date: 01 December 1991