Precision cutting processes for manufacturing of optical components

The importance of complex optical components increases permantly. In the past most applications could be solved by spherical optics. Spherical optics can be manufactured by conventional and established grinding and polishing processes. In the last years aspherical and microstructured optical components became more and more important. These components can only partly be manufactured by conventional processes. One reason is the lack of dimensional accuracy after the polishing process. Precision cutting with diamond tools on ultraprecision machines offers the possibility to manufacture complex optical components in one step. Therefore both high surface quality and dimensional accuracy can be obtained. The ultra precision cutting is suitable for the manufacture of both moulds and optical components itself. In this paper different precision cutting processes and there possibilities and limitations are discussed. Furthermore different types of ultra precision machine tools and there main applications are introduced.