LightMachinery Inc.has been awarded a patent on several key fluid jet process techniques that have enabled the company to polish materials to new levels of accuracy. US Patent 7455573 describes the novel constant pressure pump developed by the LightMachinery engineering team as well as several of the important process parameters for achieving ultra-high accuracy fluid jet polishing.
Ian Miller, Director of Research and Development at LightMachinery, stated “A reliable fluid jet system needs to pump very abrasive fluid at high volumes and constant pressures, this proved to be a significant challenge for our team and we are pleased that an an elegant and long life technique evolved after many design iterations."
Fluid jet polishing is now used to polish a wide variety of optical components to surface qualities exceeding Lambda/100 with very low surface roughness. A typical fluid jet polished substrate will have thickness uniformity of 10nm or less across a 2" component.
LightMachinery was established in Ottawa, Canada in 2002 by former members of GSI Lumonics. The company manufactures lasers and precision optical components.
Source: http://www.lightmachinery.com/