Creation of V-shaped microgrooves with flat-ends by 6-axis control ultraprecision machining

The use of diffractive optics having surface appearance like diffraction grating or Fresnel lens, which consist of a number of microgrooves with various shapes is analyzed. One of them is flat-end microgrooves having no slope at the end. The existence of a slope limits the design of microgrooves and causes unnecessary diffraction of light and losses. Thus, the slope must be eliminated. The study deals with the creation of curved V-shaped microgrooves with two flat-ends on a curved surface by using 6-axis control non-rotational cutting tools. The proposed method shows the effectiveness in creating flat-ended curved microgrooves on curved surfaces.