Precision Photonics Corporation (PPC) has completed development of advanced polishing processes for phosphate, sapphire and Ti:sapphire materials.
Despite being considered difficult materials to polish, PPC has successfully manufactured plano surfaces of up to two inches in diameter to λ/10 peak-to-valley flatness with 10-5 surface quality and RMS surface roughness of fewer than 6 angstroms.
Sapphire is used for many applications in the infrared and semiconductor industry because of its incredible hardness. Highly polished sapphire substrates and assemblies are ideal for use as high energy waveguides, windows, laser amplifiers and low-order waveplates where durability and chemical resistivity are key requirements. PPC can provide ion-beam-sputtered (IBS) anti-reflection, beamsplitter and high-reflection coatings on sapphire and other optical materials from 266nm to 2,200nm.
Phosphate glasses offer a variety of dopant levels for solid state laser applications, but they are softer and more chemically sensitive than many other glass types. PPC has developed processes to polish, coat and optically bond phosphate in several custom configurations for range finders and other LIDAR applications.