Chemical-mechanical polishing of low-scatter optical surfaces

Chemical-mechanical polishing experiments produced optical-quality low-scatter surfaces on single-crystal silicon. An alkaline silica hydrosol slurry and preconditioned pitch laps generated high-quality optically flat surfaces after several hours of polishing. The best results produced a lambda/34 peak-to-peak surface having a 6-A rms surface roughness using bowl-feed polishing and a persuader plate.