more than coatings
Substrate preparation prior to coating is critical step in the optical fabrication value chain. Omega Optical coats on both internally manufactured substrates, as well as customer supplied substrates.
Crystalline Optics Specialists
Omega Optical stands alone in our range of crystalline materials which we can generate, polish, and coat. In particular, we have a proprietary polishing and coating method for hygroscopic materials which cannot use water-based polishing or cleaning processes. These materials include Potassium Bromide (KBr), Cesium Iodide (CsI), Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) and Sodium Chloride (NaCl), among others. We also generate, turn, polish, and coat crystalline materials such as Calcium Fluoride (CaF2), Barium Fluoride (BaF2), Germanium (Ge), Silicon (Si), Zinc Sulfide (ZnS), Zinc Selenide (ZnS), and Chalcogenides.
Plano Polishing
Omega maintains in-house single and double-sided polishing for traditional glasses to be used when the performance requirements call for more than spectral complexity.
Traditional abrasive grinding is used for preliminary optic shaping.
For curved and other complex shapes, a CNC generation step is used prior to polishing to minimize processing time.
We are proud that our Conventional Polishing might be considered unconventional. This step is used to achieve high-spatial frequency roughness on spherical and aspherical optics.
Our hygroscopic polishing process is much like the recipe to Coke, a dear company secret. This process works very well on smoothing salt crystals (KBr, CsI, NaCl) which cannot tolerate traditional water-based slurry polishing.
Double-sided polishing (DSP) is used to fabricate coating substrates to better than commercially available specifications.
Omega uses Diamond Turning machines from AMETEK Precitech and Moore Nanotechnology to produce excellent crystalline and metal optics.
Our AMETEK Precitech Flycutting machine is used to produce precision Plano surfaces on crystalline and metal substrates. We specialize in manufacturing high-stiffness and low roughness fast steering mirrors for LEO Laser Communications
More on shaping and polishing
Geometries
We produce:
- Plano
- Spherical
- Aspherical
- Toroidal
- Off-Axis Parabolic
- Elliptical
- Non-rotationally symmetric (freeform)
Glass Substrates
Typical Glasses we work with:
- Fused Silica / Quartz
- Borofloat
- BK-7 & equivalent
- ULE
Crystalline Substrates
- Barium Fluoride
- Calcium Fluoride
- Magnesium Fluoride
- Potassium Bromide
- Cadmium Telluride
- Cesium Iodide
- AMTIR
- Aluminum Oxide (Al2O3)
- Sodium Chloride
- Silicon
- Germanium
- Diamond
- Zerodur
- Chalcogenides
Metal Substrates
- Aluminum 6061
- RSA Aluminum
- Nickel Plated Beryllium
- INVAR
- Stainless Steel
Key Supporting capabilities
Solution
Design & Engineering
Our commitment to finding the right solutions for difficult problems means that we are capable of doing what other engineers cannot. Some say we bend physics and solve the unsolvable. Can we? Maybe. What we know we can do is this: We ask questions and we dig, because sometimes the solutions people believe they need only scratch the surface.
Solution
Optical Coatings
Omega coating heritage dates back to 1936, and spans a wide range of technologies: Sunglasses to space-borne sun-visors; halogen light bulbs to COVID-fighting UV-C lamps, supermarket scanners to modern printers, astronomical mirrors to prestigious art installations to entertainment optics: if an application requires a precision or decorative coatings we surely have a proven solution.
Solution
Assembly & Test
Delivering complete optical sub-assemblies that streamline OEM manufacturing systems. ISO certified processes for design, development, and volume manufacturing.
Solution
Metrology & Quality Assurance
We believe you cannot confidently make what you cannot measure, and therefore have invested in standard and custom metrology and inspection stations. Certified ISO 9001:2015. Lean manufacturing, including 6 Sigma methodologies and approaches to problem solving.
