New compensation grinding of axisymmetric aspherical lenses with high NA value

Aspherical parts are installed in various optical instruments. At present, a higher form accuracy is required for aspherical parts to improve the resolution of the optical instruments. To meet this demand, an arc envelope grinding method has been developed. In the arc envelope grinding process, a spherical shaped grinding wheel is used and the form error of the cross-sectional profile of the grinding wheel is transcribed to the workpiece profile. Therefore, the grinding wheel should be trued previously. However, the form error of the grinding wheel cannot be removed perfectly. To reduce the affect of the form error of the grinding wheel, compensation grinding must be carried out. In this work, the wheel path of a new compensation grinding method is proposed for a high NA value of the workpiece. Tests using the new compensation grinding method demonstrate the reduction in the form error of aspherical parts.