Dielectric coatings are used for the manufacture of customized optical components. Dielectric coatings are optimally suited for making mirrors with reflections greater than 99 %.
Suitable for laser systems
Customized manufacturing
Excellent reflection
Optics are refined with a high-quality PVD coating to protect surfaces against environmental influences or to improve their optical properties. The applied coating thicknesses range from a few nanometers to a few micrometers. A distinction is made between metallic coatings and dielectric coatings, whereby dielectric coatings are particularly well suited for laser systems due to their low absorption.
The deposition of optical coatings is a complex process. Important parameters are the refractive index, the temperature of the substrate, the vacuum and the coating speed. The choice of materials is then based on the optical, mechanical and chemical properties.
- High resistance to environmental influences
- Extremely thin coatings
- Lower absorption than metallic coatings
- Wide range of applications
- High level of experience and expertise
- Antireflection coatings on technical glasses, silicon and germanium
- Filter coatings for the IR
- Highly reflection mirrors
- Protective coatings
- Oxides: titanium dioxide (TiO2), hafnium dioxide (HfO2), tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5), Silicon dioxide (SiO2), yttrium oxide (Y203)
- Flourides: magnesium flouride (MgF2), barium flouride (BaF2), YF3
- Sulfides / selenides: zinc sulfide (ZnS), zinc selenide (ZnSe)
Optical coatings made of metals sometimes have considerable absorption losses. For this reason, the reflection is too low for many technical applications. For highly reflective mirrors, therefore, dielectric coatings are used exclusively. These transmit the non-reflected part and can thus achieve very low absorption values.
Such coating systems are optimized for one wavelength or laser and thus achieve reflection values of up to 99.9 %. The coating of glass enables the production of mirrors for one or two wavelengths and even for broadband applications. Such High-Power coatings are optimized for High-Power laser applications.
The coating of silicon is a method to produce High-Power laser mirrors. The dielectric coating of silicon serves to increase the reflection. The coating of silicon improves the properties of the surfaces for optical applications.
Optical components coated with dielectric coatings can be used in a variety of applications
- In resonators
- In deflection units
- For beam shaping
With proper cooling and mounting, these mirrors with dielectric coatings can handle laser powers up to several kilowatts. We would be happy to inform you about our range of services in an individual consultation.
Here you can find our overview of optical mirrors