Surface Preparation of Crystal and Characterization of Surface Roughness Using Power Spectral Density Analysis

In the present paper we report crystal surface preparation and analysis of optical surface finish of the Lithium Niobate (LiNbO3) crystal. For preparation of crystals fine abrasive powders (aluminum oxide) of different grain size were used in smoothing and polishing processes. Surface characterization was carried out by imaging the crystal surface with traceable optical profiler in vertical scanning interferometry at magnification objective 2.5X with VisionTM software. The analysis of surface roughness using power spectral density (PSD) function has been carried out and an attempt has been made to correlate PSD analysis with roughness profiles of optical surfaces.