Optical Fabrication

Conventional Polishing, CNC, continues polishing, double sided polishing, diamond turning

Lenses, Prisms, Plano surfaces and aspherical surfaces

Fabrication in our facilities in Europe, Asia and the US

Overview

LightPath employs multiple fabrication technologies for production of optical components.
Precision Glass Molding – LightPath’s proprietary technology for molding Aspherical Glass lenses
Diamond Turning – single point 5-axis diamond turning
Spherical Polishing – spindle polishing, conventional grind and polish, CNC curve generation, CNC grinding and CNC polishing. Centering and lapping
Plano Polishing – double sided, continuous polishing (CP), optical contacting

Precision Glass Molding

Single lens press, see Precision Glass Molding page for more details

Typical Tolerances

Parameter Typical Tolerance
Focal Length

± 1%

Center Thickness (CT)

± 0.025 mm

Outer Diameter (OD)

± 0.015 mm

Wedge

4 arcmin

Power/Irregularity

3/1 fringes

Surface Roughness

15nm

Surface Quality (scratch/dig)

40/20

Wave Front Error (RMS)

Diffraction Limited

Diamond Turning

Typical Tolerances

  Roughness, Ra, (Å) Irregularity  (fringes @ 633 nm) Scratch/Dig
Material Typical Best Achievable Typical Best Achievable Typical
Germanium

20

10

1

0.5

60/40

Silicon

30

10

1

0.75

60/40

ZnSe

30

20

1

0.5

60/40

ZnS

30

20

1

0.5

60/40

GASIR *

20

10

1.5

1

N/A

IG Glass *

30

20

1.5

1

N/A

CaF2

30

20

1

0.75

60/40

Diamond Turning of a Germanium Asphere, See dedicated diamond turning page for more details

CNC Polishing

CNC Polishing of a Germanium Lens

Typical Tolerances

  Roughness, Ra, (Å) Irregularity  (fringes @ 633 nm) Scratch/Dig
Material Typical Best  Achievable Typical Best Achievable Typical
Germanium

10

6

1.5

0.5

60/40

Silicon

10

6

1

0.5

60/40

ZnSe

15

10

1

0.5

60/40

ZnS

15

10

1.5

0.5

60/40

Chalcogenide

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

CaF2

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

60/40

Conventional Polishing

Typical Tolerances

  Roughness, Ra, (Å) Irregularity  (fringes @ 633 nm) Scratch/Dig
Material Typical Best  Achievable Typical Best Achievable Typical
Germanium

10

6

1

0.35

60/40

Silicon

10

5

1

0.35

60/40

ZnSe

15

10

1

0.35

60/40

ZnS

15

10

1

0.35

60/40

Chalcogenide

20

15

2

0.5

60/40

CaF2

20

15

1

0.35

60/40

Production Line of Spindle Polishing

Image Gallery

Single Spindle Polishing

Precision Glass Molding Operation

Polishing Block Inspection

Optically Contacted Windows

Metrology in Spherical Production Cell

Metrology in CNC Production Cell

Loading of Satisloh CNC Polisher

Lenses Blocked on a Pitch Buttons

Lens Truncation

Double Sided Polishing

Dicing of Micro Lenses

Conventional Polishing in Our Riga Operation

Continuous Polishing (CP)

CNC Polishing

CNC Polishing in Action

Blanks on a Polishing Block