CITATION INFORMATION

Title: 3D-printed fused silica polished to sub-nanometre roughness for lightweight telescope mirrors

Lead researcher: Lawrence Bissell[1,2]
Co-Investigators: Marta Maria Civitani[2] and Gabriele Vecchi[2]
Contributing researchers: Gregory Lister[1,3] and Davide Sisana[2]
Principal Investigator: Carolyn Atkins[1]

[1] - STFC UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ, UK
[2] - INAF Astronomical Observatory of Brera, Merate, 23807 (LC), Italy
[3] - University of Manchester, Dept of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, M13 9PL, UK

Year: 2026

Funder:	- UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship ‘Printing the future of space telescopes’ under grants # MR/T042230/1 and MR/Z000238/1
	- INAF Mini-Grant "Development of astronomical mirrors by 3D printing of silica glass", Project Code C72B25000150005	

One line summary: A secondary dataset supporting the characterisation of pores/bubbles within the 3D-printed fused silica Lightweight Samples. 

Linked dataset: The following DOI links to the primary Dataset attached to this publication, https://doi.org/10.5286/edata/974

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LICENCE

CC-BY-NC

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DATA AND FILE OVERVIEW - File tree


## Overview

This dataset contains three stitched microscope measurements (16x16) from the central field of view (FOV) of the lightweight samples. These measurements were taken to confirm and quantify the presence of bubbles/pores within the printed substrates from the polished surface.    

Data includes:
- x3 Optical microscope images - Lightweight samples
- x3 Surface plots of the Zygo data with 300 Zernikes subtracted.
 
## File tree structure

- LW01_16x16_microscope.jpg
- LW01_300Zernike_residual.png
- LW02_16x16_microscope.jpg
- LW02_300Zernike_residual.png
- LW03_16x16_microscope.jpg
- LW03_300Zernike_residual.png

DATA AND FILE OVERVIEW - File types


.jpg - joint photographic expert group
.png - portable network graphics

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METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION - Sample design and manufacture

Lightweight samples
	- Year of manufacture/purchase: 2024
	- Location: STFC UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ, UK
	- Materials and suppliers:	
		- 3D printed fused silica (Glassomer GmbH, Germany)
	- Design software: nTopology (nTopology, USA)
	- Sample dimensions: 52 mm diameter, 9 mm thick, 
	- Lightweight structure: TPMS diamond lattice with a cubic cell map (10 mm × 10 mm × 10 mm) and a wall thickness of 1 mm.
	- Number of samples:
		- x3 3D printed fused silica
	- Optical prescription: flat
	- Reference: Lister, G. et al. 2024 - https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3019053


METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION - Post-processing

Lightweight samples
	- Year of post-processing: 2024
	- Location: INAF Astronomical Observatory of Brera, Merate, 23807 (LC), Italy
	- Lapping
		- Equipment: M.M.8400 lapper/polisher (LAM PLAN, France) + NEW 299 LAM®M’M’ BLUE lapping plate
		- Abrasive (consumable, stage 1): Microgrit Al2O3 20T (Micro Abrasives Corporation, USA)
		- Abrasive (consumable, stage 2): Microgrit Al2O3 9T (Micro Abrasives Corporation, USA)
	- Polishing (stage 1)
		- Equipment: M.M.8400 lapper/polisher (LAM PLAN, France) + TOUCHLAM®1PU4 polyurethane polishing pad
		- Abrasive (consumable, stage 1): Super CEROX 1663 CeO2 (Solvay, Belgium)
	- Polishing (stage 2)
		- Equipment: M.M.8400 lapper/polisher (LAM PLAN, France) + TOUCHLAM®2TS1 satin woven polishing pad
		- Abrasive (consumable, stage 2.1): Opaline®CeO2 (Solvay, Belgium)
		- Abrasive (consumable, stage 2.2): Nano-CERI PB CeO2 (Pieplow & Brandt GmbH, Germany)


METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION - Evaluation

Lightweight samples
	- Year of evaluation: 2026
	- Location: INAF Astronomical Observatory of Brera, Merate, 23807 (LC), Italy	
	- Inspection equipment: 
		- Keyence digital microscope (Keyence, Japan)
			- VHX-E100 objective
			- 16 x 16 stitched images
			- Approximate field of view: 35.2mm x 26.4mm
			- Located in the centre of the Lightweight Samples.

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