Mechanical stress pre-loading for optical coating

Abstract

Prestressing the optical plate at least partially compensates for its curvature, which is caused by the difference in the coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) between the coating material and the plate material, resulting from coating processes performed at different temperatures at the operating temperature. The optical component is produced from a non-circular transparent plate by: cutting out a disk; coating at least a portion of the main surface of the disk with an optical coating to produce a coated disk; and cutting out a rectangular coated plate from the coated disk.

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