Simple yet accurate noncontact device for measuring the radius of curvature of a spherical mirror

An easily reproducible device is demonstrated to be capable of measuring the radii of curvature of spherical mirrors, both convex and concave, without resorting to high-end interferometric or tactile devices. The former are too elaborate for our purposes, and the latter cannot be used due to the delicate nature of the coatings applied to mirrors used in high-power CO(2) laser applications. The proposed apparatus is accurate enough to be useful to anyone using curved optics and needing a quick way to assess the values of the radii of curvature, be it for entrance quality control or trouble shooting an apparently malfunctioning optical system. Specifically, the apparatus was designed for checking 50 mm diameter resonator (typically flat or tens of meters concave) and telescope (typically some meters convex and concave) mirrors for a high-power CO(2) laser, but it can easily be adapted to any other type of spherical mirror by a straightforward resizing.