The growing interest in providing additional degrees of freedom to the Storage design of high-end optical systems has led to an increased demand for freeform optical elements.The efficient fabrication of such elements requires a polishing process that provides high removal rates and a stable removal function while working with a relatively small spot size.Taking these constraints into consideration this paper focuses on the successful implementation of polishing processes applying the A-WPT (Advanced Wheel Polishing Tool) technology.Addressing the requirements regarding its removal characteristics as mentioned before, it represents an appropriate choice for providing an efficient pre-polishing as well as corrective polishing technique.In order to maintain perpendicularity towards the freeform surface to be polished, the A-WPT is run on a 5-axis simultaneous machining system.
First investigations of the achieved surface accuracy after pre-polishing were carried out as well as an assessment of residual surface features within different spatial OMEGA-3 HIGH EPA frequency regions.In addition, the polished surface is being checked for remaining SSD using an OCT technique.