We present a nondestructive method for estimating the depth of subsurface damage (SSD) in some single crystalline optical materials (silicon, lithium niobate, calcium fluoride, magnesium fluoride, and sapphire); the method is established by correlating surface microroughness measurements, specifically, the peak-to-valley (p-v) microroughness, to the depth of SSD found by a novel destructive method. Previous methods for directly determining the depth of SSD may be insufficient when applied to single crystals that are very soft or very hard. Our novel destructive technique uses magnetorheological finishing to polish spots onto a ground surface. We find that p-v surface microroughness, appropriately scaled, gives an upper bound to SSD. Our data suggest that SSD in the single crystalline optical materials included in our study (deterministically microground, lapped, and sawed) is always less than 1.4 times the p-v surface microroughness found by white-light interferometry. We also discuss another way of estimating SSD based on the abrasive size used.

© 2005 Optical Society of America

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Citation lists with outbound citation links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an OSA member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Log in to access OSA Member Subscription

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Cited by links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an OSA member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Log in to access OSA Member Subscription

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Article level metrics are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an OSA member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Log in to access OSA Member Subscription

Related Journal Articles

• Laser surface profiler (OL)
• Comparison of Fourier-Transform and Data-Dependent System Profilometry by Use of Interferometric Regeneration (AO)
• In-Process Monitoring of Grinding and Polishing of Optical Surfaces (AO)
• Development of a Laser-Scattering-Based Probe for On-Line Measurement of Surface Roughness (AO)
• Subsurface damage and microstructure development in precision microground hard ceramics using magnetorheological finishing spots (AO)

Related Conference Papers

• Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors for Real-Time Health Monitoring of Aerospace Vehicles
• Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors for Real-Time Health Monitoring of Aerospace Vehicles
• Non-destructive inspection techniques for illicit drugs using terahertz imaging
• Development of laser-terahertz emission microscope for inspecting the electrical faults in semiconductor devices
• Quantitative roughness measurements with iTIRM