Coatings
The Coatings group focuses on customer-specific optical coatings systems, developed and manufactured in close cooperation with the customer.
Based upon novel developments in the field of optical online monitoring, layer design and process optimization, complex coatings with minimum losses and high damage thresholds can be produced.
Optical functional layers for laser, astronomy and metrology applications in the wavelength range betweeen 120 nm and 5 μm can be produced using state-of-the-art coating processes. We employ the following methods:
- ion beam sputtering (IBS),
- ion-assisted deposition (IAD) und
- conventional phase deposition
Using the latest IBS processes coating systems with new characteristics and functions can be manufactured and implemented:
- Gradient systems
- Deposition of Rugate filters
- Determination of the diffraction index through appropriate mixed layers
- Coating systems with up to four different materials in only one coating batch.
Coatings overview
Mirror coatings
- Resonator mirrors
- Deflection mirrors
- Scanner mirrors
Anti-reflection coatings
- Broad-band AR coatings in the visible and NIR spectrum
- Double AR coatings with minimum residual reflectivity
Filter coatings
- Edge filters
- DWDM ; CWDM systems
- Interference filters
Coatings for laser and doubler crystals
- KTP, PP-KTP, PPLN, BBO, PPSLT, …
- Yb:YAG ; Tm:YAG ; Nd:YAG ; wolframates; …
Special coatings
- Fiber-end surfaces
- Chirped Mirrors
- Layer systems with fixed phases
- Layers and systems without thermal displacement
Application areas of the coated optics are laser technology, astronomy, metrology and research.
Main fields of work
- Implementation of new coating processes for optical layer systems
- Manufacturing of customer-specific optical layer systems
- Employing customer-specific measurement systems for process control and the manufacture of optical functional layers of highest quality
Participation in the Thin Film Damage Competition of the National Institute of Standards and Technolog y Boulder, Colorado, USA, within the scope of the Annual Symposium on Optical Materials for High Power Lasers (22-24 September 2008). Here, optical mirror systems with pre-determined parameter were manufactured, and the damage thresholds of the mirror systems were compared.