Abstract
Lithium niobate (LiNbO3) is a man-made, birefringent, electro-optically active crystal. We have used LiNbO3 in the fabrication of 75mm diameter, thin, solid Fabry-Perot etalons [1], and 50mm diameter birefringent plates for a Lyot filter. The tight tolerances on the transmitted wavefront for these components require that the material be of extremely high quality and that the surfaces be polished flat to λ/30, or better. Cutting and grinding of LiNbO3 presents no problems, since diamond cutting tools and conventional, loose, abrasive grinding can be used, but precision polishing requires special techniques.
© 1996 Optical Society of America
PDF ArticleMore Like This
A J Leistner
WBB5 Optical Fabrication and Testing (OF&T) 1985
Birgit E. Gillman, Stephen D. Jacobs, Shane E. Snyder, and Mark A. Atwood
OFB.3 Optical Fabrication and Testing (OF&T) 1996
Ralph R. Berggren, Rodney Schmell, and Vito Lazazzera
JTuB3 Optical Fabrication and Testing (OF&T) 1990