Abstract

We discuss a simple method for milling accurate off-axis parabolic mirrors with a computer-controlled milling machine. For machines with a built-in circle-cutting routine, an exact paraboloid can be milled with few computer commands and without the use of the spherical or linear approximations that have been discussed in other mirror-cutting procedures in the literature. The method given here can be adapted easily to cut off-axis sections of elliptical or spherical mirrors.

© 1991 Optical Society of America

Cutting surfaces of revolution for millimeter wave optics

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