Scattering of radiation by ultrasmooth surfaces formed by diamond turning

A theoretical investigation is made of the interaction of radiation with optical surfaces characterized by very weak scattering. In the case of ultrasmooth surfaces formed by diamond turning the results obtained provide a unified description of the scattering in a wide spectral range from the infrared to x rays, and also make it possible to develop a method for the quantitative determination of the principal parameters of the surface roughness: the structures of the component harmonics, their periods, amplitudes, mean-square heights, etc. The nature of the scattering in one spectral range can be used to predict the parameters of the scattered radiation in another range (λ₁/λ₂ = 1–10⁴) and for other scattering angles. It is shown that the choice of the technology and the main parameters of laser optical components can be made in a reasoned manner and this is very important for low-gain lasers.