The Advantages of Borofloat® Glass
Offering excellent optical performance and sourced in the USA
With the current optical stock materials getting more difficult to source and ship, we are often asked about requests for comparable substitutions. If your optic application requires coating fused silica, Borofloat or Borosilicate sheet glasses are an excellent choice for metal-coated mirrors, AR coated glass, beamsplitters, cover glass windows, and laser protection applications. Available under several different names, Schott Borofloat 33®, Corning Eagle XG®, and Schott D263®, they are all easy to source.
Borofloat excels in extreme temperature fluctuations, including handling temperature ranges within the glass itself. A material with excellent transparency for NIR and UV uses, its properties also do not distort transmitted photons. As a low-cost stock option, Borofloat is a perfect selection for inspection panels or coated debris shields, such as laser protection windows that require frequent replacement or very thin, strong panels.
For additional information on Borofloat specifications, contact Swift Glass, or the AccuCoat team to learn if this all-around glass material is a fit for your application.
Metal Coatings for Ophthalmology Instrument - Medical Optics
The LacriPen™ - Metal coatings for a handheld ophthalmology diagnostic instrument. The thickness of the gold coating is the critical factor in order to measure tears in the eye itself. We provided a specific gold film on the tiny tip sensing surface area.
Additional custom tooling and adjustments to the thickness of the coating were the factors for success. The tip is a 1x use only and changes for each patient.
This development project is in production and available in ophthalmology offices.
Thin Film Coatings for Testing Assemblies - Medical Optics
Thin-film coating for testing assemblies on a chip designed for cell therapies. A single fluid sample per patient on a chip is used to run multiple tests with one test session to gather deep personalized data in a single assay.
AccuCoat coated wafers with titanium for the testing platforms' requirement of a specific thickness. After the successful prototyping phase, this project is now in production mode.
Surgical Visor Coatings - Medical Optics
Visor coatings for a prototype surgical visor allow wireless connectivity in a headset while operating. AccuCoat developed the prototype beamsplitter and AR coatings on plastic lenses for this visor portion of the headset.
This design will allow the projection of visual data for the surgeon during surgery, supporting multiple camera views and X-rays. Several prototype versions have been created for testing this exciting technology.
Glass Beamsplitter AR - Medical Optics
Laser surgery is performed using these prisms as part of the assembly to guide and control the laser while treating glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and other retinal diseases.
Plastic Medical Optics
Several iterations were needed as the overall project parameters shifted during development.
Coatings for Mini Red Dot Sight Optics
With the increase in demand for rifle and handgun accessories, AccuCoat was quick to react to the large demand for the coatings required on these sight optics. MRD optics are an in-between option for laser sights and old-fashioned iron peep sights to place a dot or “x” on the intended target. Used for consumer and military applications, this is currently a large market space for optics providers.
AccuCoat has a long history of supplying coatings for these MRD’s. Many years ago we were approached by a military supplier looking to switch from glass to plastic optics and still meet the harsh demands on this product. AccuCoat coated prototypes which were then subjected to (and passed) a long list of Mil-Spec requirements including antifreeze and rifle-bore cleaning compound.
Recently a commercial MRD lens manufacturer came to us for help, as their current coating design was creating poor product performance. AccuCoat was able to redesign the coatings, coat prototypes and exceed the optical performance the end-customer was demanding.
With the ability to meet a very high monthly coating volume, AccuCoat is able to keep up with production demands for well-known sight manufacturers across the USA.
Developing a Durable MWIR/LWIR AR Coating for Chalcogenide
This new request came to us after having multiple coating durability failures and delivery problems from several other coating vendors using this material. This also resulted in missed delivery dates to the end customer. The project required several different lens types.
We had already developed durable coatings for the same IR wavelengths applied to germanium substrates. The next step was to redesign these coatings for the chalcogenide material; it required different coating materials and process temperatures because of the specific limitations of this type of material. After extensive coating process development and rigorous environmental testing, we were able to successfully coat and meet the customer’s requirements.
The customer performed all environmental and durability testing to confirm the results and certified it to the end customer. We then coated all the remaining lens types and enabled our customer to deliver the parts to their customer.
Accucoat can provide coatings for the entire range of IR coatings on chalcogenide and other typical IR substrate materials.
Rehabbing Original FTIR Mirrors
Coating Aluminum Optic Spinners for an NIR Application
Our attention to detail allowed for very high yield as well as high run-to-run consistency for delivered, measured performance: a reflectivity > 98% @1550nm across wide-angle (AR) was consistently achieved. We have applied a similar, proven process to other polygon spinners and cylinders that require anti-reflective coatings for near-IR applications. Our HEPA filtered booths adjacent to the coating chamber assist in keeping pre-cleaned parts in “coating ready” condition.
For coating optics for LiDAR, barcode scanners, laser guidance systems, or other multi-directional scanners in high volumes, we are here to help your project go smoothly.
Local Touch, Global Reach
"For more than 10 years AccuCoat Inc. has provided coating services for us. When we originally introduced our first light source using plastic optics, we were looking for a provider of AR coating (broad band) on polymers. AccuCoat Inc. was identified as one company of only a few that provide this service. Since the beginning we have been very pleased with the quality of the coatings from AccuCoat Inc. Within all these years, they have guided us towards solutions that could improve either our quality, yield or make the process more efficient for us.
We have always found AccuCoat Inc. very easy to communicate with, that is today a very important quality in the global community."
Delivering More Value with Increased Yield, Part Performance and Durability
To address these critical issues, we started by developing a new coating design to alleviate the transmission problem and created a plasma cleaning step that allowed the parts to meet the demanding eraser durability test parameters. These actions resulted in the parts exceeding the transmission performance required for the application.
Our customer was very pleased with the redesigned part performance and the fact that they could now satisfy their customers by delivering a higher transmission rate.
In addition to developing a solution that performed over and above for both performance and durability, we also increased the volume of parts delivered, which the previous supplier was unable to match.
As a result of our much higher yield rates, the improved AccuCoat parts were created at a similar cost to the customer, with a measurably improved acceptance rate over the past provider.
For more information on our AR coating options, read more...
Coating Beam Splitters for the Film Industry
The film industry always pushes the envelope for creativity, which creates new opportunities in the coating realm. By using a beam splitter part in a special holder in front of the camera lens, colored special effects can be created during action sequences as shot. AccuCoat offers fully custom thin-film coatings on beam splitters with ratios from 90R/10T to 10R/90T and anything in between, creating that unique look. Polarization is typically offered in an immersed option from 50-100 nm wavelengths if required. If a hybrid, non-polarized option is needed, a dielectric coating on large glass or polymer plates can be created at 50R/50T or 70R/30T to be held at an angle for light reflection.
Read our tech note on "Beam splitters: Divide, combine & conquer"
Coating Freeform Optics
Polymer optics, created by injection molding or diamond-turned into a freeform or aspheric optic design, are regularly coated by AccuCoat. Because of the level of difficulty to manufacture correctly, we have developed a specific process for precise and predictable coatings for freeform prisms with multiple aspheric surfaces or other shapes that are commonly too difficult to conventionally fabricate with glass. This type of optic is typically constructed from materials such as Zeonex, acrylic, polystyrene or Ultem.
AccuCoat has 20 years of experience with developing specific custom tooling that allows correct and complete coverage to these non-flat surfaces. Onsite, we have a fully-automated ultrasonic process for perfectly cleaned high-value SPDT coated optics.
Optical coatings applied to freeform or diamond-turned products are typically used in head-mounted displays providing in-the-moment data or VR imaging used for military and high-end commercial projects.
Read our Tech Note for more detail regarding how we coat SPDT optics …
Coating Micro-Optics
Spinners & Polygons
Read our tech note on coatings used in LiDAR applications.
Laser Sighting
Read our tech note on how we meet the demanding needs of the defense industry.
Hot Mirrors for Virtual Reality
AR Coated Mylar Sheets
The laser instrumentation and diagnostics markets have a need for very thin (2 mil) mylar coated sheets. By adjusting coating processes and developing custom tooling to accommodate the thin, flexible material, current coating technology can achieve a uniform AR V-coat across the sheet without compromising pliability; the coated sheet can even be rolled up and flexed without cracking or crazing the coating.
Read our tech note on how we apply durable coatings to plastic and polymer substrates.