Case Study: 2200 nm V-Coat Silicon

Case Study: 

Full Coated Optics Supply with V-Coat Anti-Reflection: This job is one of our many examples of Vortex as a one stop shop for both the sourcing and supplying of the optics them selves as well as the coating of the substrate. For this job we used on of our trusted suppliers of whom we have an excellent relationship with enabling us to get competitive rates. Once the optics arrive, they are carefully inspected by our goods in department to make sure that everything is to specification then we process and coat them. With this job the parts are delivered in pick and place compatible trays ready for easy assembly by our customer. All of this minimizes the hassle for the customer as vortex is a one stop shop for the whole optical component and with customisable packaging solutions our products can seamlessly integrate with production and assembly lines.

Significantly Boosting Mid-Infrared Optics with Antireflection Processes: Another aspect of this job is that with AR or V-Coat processes we are able to significantly boost the signal of mid infrared optics. Substrates such as Silicon and germanium have relatively low transmission levels but with what are often short process, we can boost those levels to above 99% across short “spot” ranges with V-Coats or well above 90% across wider/broadband ranges.

Anti-reflection coatings tend to differ from filter coatings in the sense that with filter coatings they are normally much longer and much more complex and the substrate often forms a much lower percentage of the overall cost of the coated optic package. This means that the AR coatings can often be applied without significant increase in cost to the overall optic. The second graph illustrates how much transmission can be improved across a wide range with just a narrow V-Coat Process when compared to the uncoated silicon substrate.