Testing of spherical mirrors with extremely large R numbers using a quasi-autocollimation method

Abstract

Spherical mirrors with large R numbers have extreme advantages in optical systems with large apertures and long focus lengths for improving imaging resolution and field of view. Their manufacturing and testing accuracy directly affects the final wavefront aberration of the systems. However, due to the influence of airflow disturbance in the long optical path, testing large R number spherical mirrors with high precision is difficult for the direct testing method. In this paper, a quasi-autocollimation test (QACT) method is proposed based on the consistency and reverse compensation between sphere and paraboloid with large R numbers. In QACT, the length of the testing path is reduced to half, and the test sensitivity of the surface figure error is doubled. According to the Kolmogorov turbulence theory, the suppressed degree of QACT to airflow disturbance is quantitatively evaluated, and QACT can suppress the random error in test to 35%. A comparative experiment between direct test and QACT method is carried out on a ∅100 spherical mirror with 8-meter radius of curvature. Airflow disturbance in the testing environment is calculated by mathematical fitting and the repeated accuracy is improved from 4 nm to 1.4 nm in a single test using the QACT method, which is consistent with theoretical analysis. The research results will provide a new strategy for ultra-precision and efficiency tests of large R number spherical mirrors.