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Interesting, I had always assumed that the mirror warping in all kinds of ways as it cools down affects its figure and hence its performance. Is the consensus now that the boundary layer has a much worse effect?
If so then I suppose the ideal mirror material would polish up very smoothly and have a low thermal capacity, so as to not store much heat.
Which of the common substrates gives the smoothest surface given comparable effort?
On that topic, the back of my watch is made from zirconia and allegedly polished to a roughness of 4nm – how does that compare to telescope mirrors?
Cheers
Steffen.
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