Aug. 06, 2024
&#;Magic mirror, on the wall &#; who is the fairest one of all?&#;.
With competitive price and timely delivery, CLZ sincerely hope to be your supplier and partner.
While this guide won&#;t provide answer to the Queen&#;s request in Disney Classic, Snow White and the seven Dwarfs, you&#;ll get a glimpse of the optical mirrors offer you can find on the market and select the best mirror that may fit your needs.
An optical mirror is a precision optics component made of a optical polished substrate material and a high reflection coating. It can be of various shape and dimensions from less than a millimetre to several meters.
Optical mirrors are found in all the Photonics applications : in astronomy inside every telescope, in lasers by design, in vision equipment, and most of the optical assemblies systems. While their usage is quite simple : reflect the light, their range of application is wide, from UV to IR it can be used to transmit light with a change of direction, to focus light (for example in a Cassegrain telescope) or pumping light in a laser.
Under the name &#;mirror&#; are many different types of precision optics that may be sorted as one of below type :
Mirrors substrate material are usually selected for their good shape resistance to temperatures changes, easiness of coating to bound with it and easiness of polishing to guaranty a good polishing shape. For some high power laser applications, substrate can also be the in LIDT constraint and therefore be selected carefully.
Below table shows most common substrate material for mirror blanks :
Substrate material Remarks Float Very cheap material that comes with acceptable polishing and flatness level for low requirement applications. Fused silica Resistant material with good optical machining properties, very commonly used. N-BK7 / H-K9L Most common optical glass, can be used for high requirement surface aspects. Zerodur Material almost non affected by low temperature, used mainly for space applications. Metals Polished aluminium or brass can be used for some high power laser applications, they are also easier to machined than glass type material and mechanicaly stronger. Plastics Plastic substrates are used in optical applications, but the difficulty to keep a good surface quality and the easy wearing of the parts due to outside environment limit its usage, while this remain the cheapest substrate material.Remark : for some applications where mirrors maybe of important dimensions and the part weight is an important constraint like in space industry for example, a lightening of the part can be done with a structuring of the back of the substrate.
The most important part of an optical mirror is its high reflection coating, it is that coating that will be at the interface of incident beam and reflect it to an orthogonal direction.
With the improvement of vacuum deposition equipment in the last 30 years, layer of dielectric material can be deposit of substrates with a nanometric precision.
The material and the thickness used for each layer enable the trimming of a broadband of wavelengths where the incident beam will be reflected.
It has to be noted that the reflection of such mirror degrades as the AOI increases.
*Metal coatings are protected with SiO2 layers in order to avoid corrosion.
**An additional Chromium layer is usually added between the substrate and the metal to improve adhesion.
The critical specification for optical mirrors to be used in laser applications is their LIDT (Laser Induced Damage Threshold, or in short Damage Threshold).
This specification often measure in J/cm2 defines the energy that can be accepted by a surface area. (for reminder Watts are defining a power so values in Watts should be integrated in the time to be translated to energy).
LIDT should be defined with detail of the type of reference laser : CW or pulse laser, pulse duration, frequency and power.
Usually the coating is the contraint before the substrate, but for high power laser substrate can be wear by laser usage too. The lower the polishing and the higher of impurities in the material will bring to lower LIDT of the substrates.
Deformable mirrors are active optics elements used in adaptative optics. They are typically made of an optical membrane, actuators and an electronic controller.
Their main usage is compensating aberrations, from example of the atmosphère in astronomy, of the eye in ophthalmology or of the cells water in biomicroscopy.
Main suppliers of deformable mirrors are ALPAO and ISP-System for high power applications.
What are Hot mirrors and cold mirrors ? It is rather intuitive (while sometimes confusing) :
In a nutshell : Hot mirrors reflect warmth, cold mirrors reflect cold signal.
They are used to separate visible to IR parts of an optical signal.
Like most optical components optical mirrors are bought from precision optics manufacturers & distributors. It is rather common that the substrate and the coating are made in two different site, therefore buying mirror blank and doing the coating in-house or subcontracting it to other supplier is common practice.
Don&#;t hesitate to contact SINOPTIX for your questions about optical mirrors or to request for a quote.
Most buyers looking for optical services or an optical components supplier will have their own criteria for what they require.
Reliability, quality and precision, as well as competitive pricing, will always be among the most important factors they look for. However, other important factors will come into play when considering the industry sector, application, properties and service of the end-product.
This article is the first of two covering a range of factors that buyers of optical components should look for in an optics company.
Using an optical company that offers a wide range of products will reap dividends in numerous ways.
Optical product range should include optical mirrors, optical prisms, optical windows, technical glasses, optical filters, optical lenses, laboratory quality slides and plate products.
What does this mean?
A broad product range should also be matched by a wide choice of optical materials. Different materials offer different properties and characteristics. So whatever your requirements for OEM optics or other optical components, you&#;ll be able to source the product you required in an appropriate optical material.
The more materials your optics company offers and can work with, the greater the fit in matching your requirements.
Typical materials on offer from an optics company should at minimum range from different optical glasses, to quartz, germanium, sapphire, calcium fluoride and fused silica.
For more information, please visit Optical Mirrors supplier.
Related links:By combining a wide range of materials with treatments and coatings designed to work on all parts of the UV, Visible and IR spectrum. Your optical components supplier should be able to meet complex and multi-faceted demands.
An optical company that has been around for years and has a history of successful business is likely to have technicians or engineers, as well as managers who&#;ve experienced all manner of requirements.
With that comes a probable track record of delivering quality optical products to its clients.
This means they will be able to offer a consultative approach in sales and should be able to help in addressing problems.
These days most customers like to know who the people are behind the business that they buy from.
It adds confidence and trust to the experience, especially when buying online, if key members of the team can be found on the website and what roles they fulfil.
In turn, it helps buyers to develop a sense of trust. For example, by identifying who you&#;re going to be dealing with and who will be processing your order. Customers might feel more confident in placing that first order.
During your enquiry process, you should be able to assess how open the channels of communication are going to be. Then how the company will handle your requirements, questions and &#; potentially &#; complaints.
When reviewing a potential supplier of optical components, check out the wider set of engineering services they have. If you&#;re going to need custom optics or special finishing such as dicing, polishing, grinding or lapping it&#;s worth reviewing this.
Ask exactly what kind of engineering services and methods the optical components company can offer. As with the range of materials and products, it is worth bearing in mind that a broader engineering services skill set indicates a depth of expertise and knowledge.
No matter what sector your own business operates in, the wider the range of industries an optical product company has experience of working in. The more likely it is that they will have the skillset and experience you&#;re looking for.
Each industry brings its own set of challenges and specific demands, but it also represents a learning opportunity for experts who are always keen to discover more about techniques, materials, properties and characteristics of optical components
The unique demands of working across multiple sectors can only enhance an optical company&#;s team&#;s depth of knowledge and expertise.
The quickest way of establishing whether a baseline of quality control exists in the optical company you choose is to look for an official accreditation.
Quality certifications such as ISO : are evidence that management systems and quality processes such as internal audits and regular management reviews are in place &#; all of which will positively impact on the quality of the end product.
Optical manufacturing is about precision, so in addition to quality certifications, your chosen optics company should be able to offer testing and calibration services using specialised equipment. For instance, a spectrophotometer to test filters for transmission, or an interferometer to check optical windows for flatness.
UQG Optics has been providing optical components and solutions for over 65 years, and now supplies to clients around the world in over 50 countries.
We hold an extensive range of optical components in stock for fast delivery, as well as offering custom optics from our manufacturing facility in Cambridge. For larger volumes, we source from trusted and certified suppliers around the world, with all testing done in our own in-house facility.
Our product range includes optical mirrors, optical prisms, optical windows, technical glasses, optical filters, optical lenses, laboratory quality slides and plate products.
The optical materials offered by UQG Optics range from a range of general sheet glasses to high precision coated sheet optical filters.
Our glass raw materials, machined blanks, polished sheet glasses and coated sheets are sourced from leading manufacturers such as Schott, Heraeus and Corning, and we hold full batch identification of every glass stocked so we can supply full traceability on your finished component.
To find out more about Optical Components from UQG Optics, or any of our other optics call us on or our sales team at
For more Optical Mirrors custominformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.
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