Ion beam figuring of continuous phase plates based on the frequency filtering process

Abstract

Ion beam figuring (IBF) technology is an effective technique for fabricating continuous phase plates (CPPs) with small feature structures. This study proposes a multi-pass IBF approach with different beam diameters based on the frequency filtering method to improve the machining accuracy and efficiency of CPPs during IBF. We present the selection principle of the frequency filtering method, which incorporates different removal functions that maximize material removal over the topographical frequencies being imprinted. Large removal functions are used early in the fabrication to figure the surface profile with low frequency. Small removal functions are used to perform final topographical correction with higher frequency and larger surface gradient. A high-precision surface can be obtained as long as the filtering frequency is suitably selected. This method maximizes the high removal efficiency of the large removal function and the high corrective capability of the small removal function. Consequently, the fast convergence of the machining accuracy and efficiency can be achieved.