HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (Oct. 7, 2011) - Deep in the bowels of the Optics Building on the campus of The University of Alabama in Huntsville, there exists a large Plexiglass enclosure, a whirling polishing head swirls over a glass mirror, methodically polishing the surface. A controlled stream of abrasive slurry plays constantly on the surface being polished and the computer controlled polishing bonnet, forming a halo as it is thrown off by polish head spinning at up to 2,000 rpm. This is the polish head of the Zeeko IRP-600X in action. It is capable of shaping free-form optical surfaces in virtually any material that can be polished: glass, metals, even many composites, says Dr. Pat Reardon, UAHuntsville's Center for Applied Optics (CAO) Interim Director and principal research scientist.