For over two years there has been a continual shortage in the supply of good quality laser optics. In a strategic move LASER COMPONENTS invested in machinery and has now commissioned a state of the art lens manufacture and ultrasonic cleaning facility at the company’s Head Quarters based in Olching near Munich. Just 10 days after commissioning the facility finished lenses were ready to reduce customer order backlog.
Throughout each step of the production process quality remains the top priority. Examples of laser grade quality include the surface figure error 3/0.5 (0.2/0.1), defined by:
3/A (B/C)
3: Code number for surface figure error
A: Maximum permissible sagitta error
B: Oval surface figure error (deviation from spherical shape)
C: Fine surface figure error (irregularity in rotational symmetry)
Each production stage of grinding, smoothing and polishing is completely controlled and monitored with test plates and an interferometer, resulting in high surface figure accuracy and surface roughness of ~0.5nm.
Each batch of lenses is then ultrasonically cleaned in an automatic multi-stage handling system using a mix of diluted and 100% chemical solutions before being dried under infrared light.
Plano-concave, plano-convex, biconcave, and biconvex are now produced in-house with diameters from 12 mm to 60 mm, and custom radii between 12 mm to infinity. Both optical glasses and different types of fused silica can be processed to laser grade standards.
The final stage for the lenses is the production of anti-reflection (AR) coatings. In fact, LASER COMPONENTS has made a name for itself manufacturing coatings since 1986. Flexibility and quality have become a valuable trademark. LASER COMPONENTS’ comprehensive repertoire ranges from AR coatings to partially-reflective coatings, from long pass, short pass, and conventional mirror coatings to Gaussian mirrors, metallic mirrors, and even polarisers. With a choice of four coating machines time-sensitive requests can be met, to complete customer satisfaction.
