Products

Cylindrical Lenses

 

 Cylindrical lenses converge or expand light in a single dimension to alter the proportions of an image, focus a beam to a thin line or generate a line output. solid Photon Inc offers both plano-convex and plano-concave cylindrical lenses in N-BK7 and UV grade fused silica, in addition to custom lenses. Our laser quality cylindrical lenses are manufactured with low wedge, high surface accuracy and quality, and high laser damage threshold for demanding laser or performance-critical tasks. Our standard grade lenses are designed to offer excellent performance value for applications where lens wedge and surface accuracy are not critical. Rectangular, square, and round cylindrical lenses are available to address most needs with an off-the-shelf solution.

We use only the best control equipment in our polishing processes for these challenging lenses, backed by precise and accurate metrology. We have mastered the entire manufacturing process, from raw material to cylindrical coated lenses. Our experience working with a wide variety of materials and designs allows us to transition from prototype to volume manufacturing seamlessly. 
Many of our OEM customers begin with a catalog product for prototyping, using those results to identify the specifications needed for a custom cylindrical lens for production use. Whether you are optimizing the performance of a new product, or simply trying to find the right lens for an experiment, we want to work with you to design the ideal custom solution.
High quality antireflection coatings are essential for maximum throughput and power handling, and ours are among the best. We offer a wide variety of coating options including BBAR and V-coats, as well as custom coatings. To achieve highest laser damage threshold, we typically recommend V-coat antireflection coatings on laser-grade fused silica substrates.

Capabilities

  Standard Custom options
Types Plano-convex & plano-concave 
Rectangular, square, & round shapes 		 Bi-convex, bi-concave and meniscus
Materials N-BK7, UV-grade fused silica  All types of optical glasses, fused silica and fused quartz, CaF2, MgF2,  sapphire 
Diameter 12.7×4.8 to 50.8×50.8 mm, 
Diameters 15.0 to 50.8 mm		 From 4×4 mm up to 480 mm length 
 
Focal length 6.0 mm to 10.0 m 
-6.4 mm to -10.0 m 		  
Coatings
  • Narrowband V-coat AR
  • Dual wavelength AR (1064/532)
  • Broadband Multilayer AR
  • Other wavelengths (193 – 2100 nm)
  • Triple-V AR
  • Single layer MgF2 AR
  • Mirror coating
Quality Standard and laser quality See manufacturing tolerances below

Cylindrical Lens Manufacturing Capabilities***

Surface  Tolerances  Commercial Laser Quality High Precision
Surface quality (scratch - dig) 60 - 40 20 - 10 10 - 5
Surface roughness (Å, RMS) 20  5  2.5 
Cylindrical Surface Figure, x direction (waves, P-V @633nm)* λ per cm λ per cm λ/2 per cm
Cylindrical Surface Figure, y direction (waves, P-V @633nm)** λ λ λ/2
Surface Flatness (waves, P-V @633nm) λ/2 λ/4 Up to λ/10
Dimensional  Tolerances Commercial Precision High Precision
Diameter (mm) +0.00 / -0.250 +0.00 / -0.10 +0.00 / -0.02
Length & Width (mm) +0.00 / -0.250 +0.00 / -0.10 +0.00 / -0.02
Center thickness (mm) ± 0.250 ± 0.1 ± 0.025
Cylindrical radius (fringes) 5  3  0.5 
Wedge along length of vertex (Δtc, x direction)* < 5 arc min  < 3 arc min  < 1 arc min
Centration (edge thickness difference, y direction)** < 5 arc min  < 3 arc min  < 1 arc min
Clear aperture 85% 90%  95% 
* x direction is the direction parallel to the cylindrical axis, i.e., the surface is flat in that direction 
** y direction is the direction perpendicular to the cylindrical axis, i.e., the cylindrical surface has a radius in this direction
*** Note: The general tolerance specifications above are intended to guide determination of appropriate tolerances based both on relative cost and manufacturability.  Part-specific tolerances will vary depending on size, material, shape and aspect ratio.  Tighter tolerances may be possible, so please contact us to discuss your custom specifications.  All specifications do not need to be from a single column, though trade-offs may be required in order to meet the desired combination of cost and performance.