ARO
Here at Alpine Research Optics, our products are created with the highest quality materials and assembled with the most advanced techniques available. From fabrication to coating, we can readily produce customized optics in virtually every aspect. We’re sure you’ll be satisfied with our products just like all of our past customers. Check out our selection below.
Optical Materials
The most commonly used substrate materials for ARO optics are either fused silica or calcium fluoride (CaF2). Fused silica is a robust material that is relatively easy to fabricate into a wide range of different shaped optical components making it a relatively economical choice of substrate material. Fused silica comes in variety of different grades, with the two major categories based on UV transmission. So called “UV grade” is useful for transmissive optics down to about 200 nm, while “standard grade” fused silica starts to attenuate significantly below 260 nm. It is difficult to obtain UV grade fused silica in diameters much above 100 mm, so components of this size and above are quite expensive. Within the UV and standard grade classifications, a number of different grades are available, based on parameters such as bubble and inclusion content, index of refraction homogeneity, striae, and birefringence.
Calcium fluoride CaF2
CaF2 is a somewhat hygroscopic crystalline material. It typically demonstrates transmission down to about 170 nm, and is also available in different grades, based on UV transmission. The natural anisotropy and brittleness of CaF2 render it prone to chipping and fracturing during polishing, and make it necessary to control the orientation of the crystal’s axis with respect to the polished face. This makes it difficult for the fabricator to simultaneously meet tight surface quality (scratch and dig) and flatness (or surface figure) specifications. It is therefore important not to overspecify CaF2 components, otherwise they will be much more costly than necessary. Since CaF2 components are typically more expensive than equivalent fused silica optics, it is generally only used at wavelengths where fused silica is not transmissive, most notably at the 193 nm excimer wavelength.
Materials
Calcium fluoride (CaF2)
Magnesium fluoride (MgF2)
Spinel
fused silica
BK7
Germanium (Ge)
Zerodur
Silicon (Si)
Sapphire
Zinc selenide (ZnSe)