Water jet: a promising method for cutting optical glass.

We present an alternative method for cutting optical glass. It works with a high-pressure fluid, carring abrasive powder. This technique offers some advantages over conventional methods that use diamond abrasive covered wires or disks. We make a critical comparison between those two techniques, characterizing cuts with interferometric, polarimetric, and Ronchi testing. The main feature of the water-jet technique is that it allows surface of any shape, already polished, to be cut safely.