Plasma Optik News
White Papers and News You Can Use
Plasma Optik offers optical thin film Ion Beam Sputtering (IBS) services. We provide additional IBS capacity for your optical thin film production needs and can assist with your overflow and backlog when you need it most.
What’s New August 2022 and the SPIE Optics and Photonics Show
Light At The End Of The Tunnel
We have become very excited in recent weeks with our Techne system. We continue to see the positive effects from the small adjustments being made that are making a difference in our coating capability and quality. From general maintenance to finite tweaks on items such as the custom optical monitoring system. We are working hard to provide the best coating available. Anywhere. We are getting closer by the hour. Stay tuned.
SPIE Optics and Photonics Show
Make sure you mark your calendars for the SPIE Optics and Photonics show happening in San Diego later this month from August 21st thru the 25th. Plasma Optik will be at table 549 and is looking forward to seeing all of you there to discuss the latest project you might have. Jim will be happy to discuss your specifications in detail so make sure you stop by and visit him while you are at the show.
Plasma Optik Techne System — Qualification for High Fluence Optical Applications
Our goal at Plasma Optik is to manufacture highest quality coatings to address some of the most significant optical coating challenges. Jim Kraus knows the importance of high fluence thin film coatings for LDT applications. These optics are just one of many that are difficult to produce and even more difficult to manufacture defect free and prove durable. Jim has been able to repeatably produce these LDT films in the Plasma Optik Techne ion beam system with consistency, and with the high quality we are looking for.
New White Paper
Jim recently published a new paper called Plasma Optik Techne System — Qualification for High Fluence Optical Applications that shows some of the requirements for these films and how he has been able to achieve successful coatings in the Techne system that tend to exceed today’s requirements in the industry. You can review this document and see some of the data he has put together. You can find our white papers and other updates on our website in the news section.
Call us for your coating needs at 970-786-6218
Please let our Sales team know if you have a demand for optical coatings for a small R&D project or one-off concept design that is of interest. Talk to us about your requirements and we’ll do all we can to help meet or exceed your expectations.
Please visit our website at Plasma Optik. You can contact Jim Kraus to set up a time to discuss your thin film process needs with us today.
Plasma Optik: the Cleanest Coatings Available — A Closer Look
In this downloadable brochure, you will find:
- our current selection of materials
- the highlights of our environmentally stable thin film optics
- and graphs showing our filter capabilities.
What’s New June 2022
Exciting New Challenges
We’ve continued to develop our capabilities at Plasma Optik. Our primary goal is enhancing our ability to meet challenging CW, nanosecond and femtosecond laser damage specifications. We have a number of projects ongoing, exploring the limits of our technology to manufacture these challenging coatings. Additional bandwidth has been allocated to enhancing our ability to meet challenging optical specifications.
Make sure to mark your calendar for the SPIE laser damage Conference happening in Rochester, NY September 18-21st. Plasma Optik has entered and submitted coated optics for the 1064nm CW laser damage competition. Laser damage in the CW regime is primarily thermally driven. We expect our fully dense Ion Beam sputtered coatings to perform extremely well under these high fluence conditions. We’re very excited to see the results and we are looking forward to sharing our performance with you once published.
Enhancing the capability of our optical monitor system has been another challenge. Producing bandpass filters with full range blocking is a tall order requiring nanometer precision on layer termination on hundreds of consecutive layers. We have managed to successfully navigate the challenges associated with this effort and have produced an example filter with wide blocking range along with a passband with average transmission of 92.5%. More information available on request!
We Want To Help Foster Your Success
Our goal at Plasma Optik is to manufacture high quality coatings to address some of the most significant optical challenges. We know there is always a need for R&D projects, and we are here to help you get them done. Sadly, many innovative ideas come to a halt when R&D projects are delayed. That is where we come in.
Please let our Sales team know if you have a demand for optical coatings for a small R&D project or one-off concept design that is of interest. Talk to us about your requirements and we’ll do all we can to help meet or exceed your expectations. You can email Jim Kraus to set up a time to discuss your thin film process needs, or call Plasma Optik at 970-786-6218.
Plasma Optik Techne System —Qualification for High Fluence Optical Applications
James Kraus, Senior Coating & Sales Development Engineer
Executive Summary | Thin film optics lifetime under exposure to high laser fluence levels benefit from having both high laser damage threshold and low optical absorption. Plasma Process Group has developed the Techne Ion Beam Sputtering deposition tool for manufacturing these challenging coatings. Plasma Optik has optimized Techne process parameters to both maximize laser damage threshold and minimize absorption. This paper explains 1-on-1, S-on-1 and LLNL-TR-740296 (used for National Ignition Facility applications) laser damage testing methodologies. Also discussed are details of photothermal common path interferometry (PCI) used for optical absorption testing. Techne system laser damage performance data generated with the LLNLTR-740296 testing procedure on 1064nm and 532nm high reflector mirrors made with the Techne system is given along with PCI data from similar optics. Finally, comparison is made between laser damage values from Mil-Spec 10-5 and super-polished substrates with similar high-reflector coatings.
Come Say Hello at the SPIE Photonics West Exhibition in Jan 2022
Thank you Customers!
We appreciate all of our customers this past year. It has been a very busy year and we are looking forward to helping you in 2022. Have a safe and fun Holiday Season!
Come See Us in 2022
Please come join us at the SPIE Photonics West Exhibition in January. We are all vaccinated, getting our boosters, and are looking forward to seeing everyone!
Contact us for a quote or if you have any questions!
Optical Coating Materials
James Kraus, Senior Coating & Sales Development Engineer
Executive Summary | A variety of materials are used in thin film optics applications. Customers of thin film optics may be interested in becoming familiar with these materials and the important differences which make one material set more appropriate for your application. We propose that the most important intrinsic material considerations are material index, material bandgap and absorption edge. These material properties are discussed as they affect thin film optics performance in different scenarios.
Optical Filters in Lidar Systems Applied to Autonomous Vehicle Applications
James Kraus, Senior Coating & Sales Development Engineer
Executive Summary | Interest in commercializing Lidar technology for vision systems in autonomous vehicles is very high. Recent advancements in compact, low-cost and high-performance lasers have pushed Lidar technology to the brink of widespread adoption. Optical filters play an important role in the Lidar optical engine. Plasma Optik bandpass filter manufacturing efforts geared toward this application are discussed. Resolution limits of radar and Lidar technologies are compared. Practical vision system performance challenges are discussed as they relate to automotive Lidar applications.