RAP™ process speeds fabrication of precision glass optics

   The conventional approach to the manufacture of precision optics relies on mechanical removal of unwanted material. Subsurface damage is introduced by the generating process of an optical blank in any glass material. The direct relationship between mechanical damage inflicted and material removal rates (MRR) has traditionally led to high cost and long lead times for fabricating large precision optics made from low thermal expansion materials, such as fused silica, ULE®, and Zerodur®.
   RAPT Industries, Inc. has pioneered a different approach to the manufacturing of such optics. The RAP process is a non-contact process that is capable of extremely high MRR. The added benefit is that it removes subsurface damage while not imparting any new damage to the substrate.
   Recent improvements in RAP technology have produced better than λ/10 P-V surface figure accuracy on four-inch optics made from fused silica in as little time as twelve minutes starting from a rough pre-ground blank. The RAP process presents the optics manufacturing community with an economically attractive alternative for manufacturing high-precision custom optics. The results will be published in the near future, but in the meantime please contact us directly for more information.

RAPT Industries selected for NRO and NASA contracts

   In a first for RAPT Industries (or a company our size), our proposal entitled “Rapid, Low-cost Manufacturing of Large Space Mirrors” was selected for funding by the Director’s Innovation Initiative (DII) of the National Reconnaissance Office. The DII program is designed to identify technical and scientific solutions to problems challenging the NRO in the 21st century. The project will involve the use of lasers to heat a large mirror substrate locally during the RAP process instead of applying radiant heating as previuosly used with smaller optics.
   Another proposal from RAPT Industries entitled. “Reactive Atom Plasma Processing of Slumped Glass Wedges” has been selected for a 2007 Phase 1 contract under NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. The slumped glass wedges are to serve as alignment spacers for the multi-segmented grazing-incidence mirror design for NASA's Constellation-X telescope. RAP is possibly the only method capable of fabricating thousands of glass wedges within a viable process period and at a reasonable cost to validate the alignment and assembly concept planned for the X-ray telescope.

Visit RAPT Industries at Photonics West 2008

   RAPT Industries will be exhibiting at SPIE Photonics West 22 - 24 January 2008 in San Jose, CA. The meeting is billed as "North America's Largest Photonics Event". Our display of product and technology can be found in Booth 6290 located in the South Hall #1.

Recent publications from RAPT Industries
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