DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNOLOGY FOR OBTAINING SUPER-SMOOTH SURFACES OF OPTICAL ELEMENTS MADE FROM GERMANIUM

As we all know, thermal imaging technology is prevalent today. Therefore, thermal imaging devices have been produced more and more. Germanium (Ge) is one of the basic materials for making thermal imaging devices. To make a suitable thermal imaging device, parts made from germanium need to have their surfaces polished. However, because Ge is challenging, the surface of Ge optical components is prone to scratches during fabrication, significantly affecting the optical system's image quality. To solve this problem, it is necessary to find a suitable Ge processing technology to improve the image quality of optical devices. This study shows the influence of several technological factors, such as the base material, the size of the polished particles, and the polishing time, on the surface quality of the Ge substrate. The results obtained give an optimal technological process, which can be applied to Ge polishing to obtain excellent surface quality.