Crystals and optics processing services

The Yttrium Orthovanadate (YVO4) is a positive uniaxial crystal grown with Czochralski method. It has good temperature stability and physical and mechanical properties. It is ideal for optical polarizing components because of its wide transparency range and large birefringence. It is an excellent synthetic substitute for Calcite (CaCO3) and Rutile (TiO2) crystals in many applications including fiber optic isolators and circulators, interleavers, beam displacers and other polarizing optics.

α-BBO (α-BaB2O4) is a negative uniaxial crystal which has large birefringence over a broad transparent range of 190nm to 3500nm. α-BBO is an excellent crystal especially in UV and high power applications. The physical, chemical, thermal, and optical properties of alpha-BBO crystal are similar to those of Beta-BBO. However, there is no second order nonlinear effect in alpha-BBO crystal due to the centrosymmetry in its crystal structure and thus it has no use for second order nonlinear optical processes. Instead, alpha-BBO is widely used for fabrication of polarizers, polarizing beam displacers, phase retarders, birefringent plates, and time delay compensators especially those for UV and high power lasers.

Silicon is used as an optical window primarily in the 3 to 5 micron band and as a subsrate for production of optical filters and windows. Silicon (Si) is grown by Czochralski pulling techniques (CZ) and contains some oxygen that causes an absorption band at 9 microns. To avoid this, material can be prepared by a Float-Zone (FZ) process. Optical silicon is generally lightly doped (5 to 40 ohm cm) for best transmission above 10 microns, and doping is usually boron (P-type) and phosphorus (N-type). After doping silicon has a further pass band: 30 to 100 microns which is effective only in very high resistivity uncompensated material.

Penta Prisms are used to define right angles in optical systems. Penta Prisms, which provide right handed images,feature a ray deviation of 90°. Penta Prisms are five-sided prisms are unaffected by slight movements. HG OPTRONICS offers a variety of Penta Prisms for optimal performance in the Ultraviolet (UV), Visible, or Infrared (IR) spectrums.

Achromatic Lenses are used to minimize or eliminate chromatic aberration. The achromatic design also helps minimize spherical aberrations. Achromatic Lenses are ideal for a range of applications, including fluorescence microscopy, image relay, inspection, or spectroscopy. Achromatic Lenses, which are often designed by either cementing two elements together or mounting the two elements in a housing, create smaller spot sizes than comparable singlet lenses.

Pure YAG Yttrium Aluminum Garnet is a new substrate and window material that can be used for both UV and IR optics. It is particularly useful for high-temperature and high-energy applications. The mechanical and chemical stability of YAG is comparable to sapphire crystal, but YAG is unique with no birefringence which is extremely important for some optical applications.

TGG is an excellent magneto-optical crystal used in various Faraday devices(Polarizer and Isolator) in the range of 400nm-1100nm, excluding 475-500nm.

Er3+, Yb3+ co-doped phosphate glass is a well-known and commonly used active medium for lasers emitting in the “eye-safe” spectral range of 1,5-1,6 µm. As an eye-safe wavelength laser, 1540um ,Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped phosphate glass lasers have attracted much attention for their compactness and low cost, such as laser generation and signal amplification because the wavelength of 1540nm is just at the position of the eye-safe and the fiber optic communication window. 1540nm lasers have used in ranging finder, radar, target recognition. Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped phosphate glass cooperate with passive Q-Switch crystal cospinel can get 1540nm pulse solid-state laser.