UV laser ablative figuring of optical plastics for precise optics

A new method for figuring the surface profile of optical plastics for precise optics using short wavelength laser light have been proposed. The surface of the optical plastic coated on the glass substrate is ablated by ArF laser light on the interferometer. The surface profile is measured simultaneously with the ablative figuring. The ablation rate of PMMA is 0.003 μm per pulse at an energy density of 58 mJ/cm2.