Diamond-Turning / IR Lenses

Our partner Phoenix Optical Technologies Ltd diamond turning facility operates 5 single-point machines to support our customers’ growing demands for innovation and quality. This machining capacity is transformed into optical capability by a dedicated team of skilled technicians. We produce aspheric, free-form and diffractive surfaces in a variety of materials.

diamon-lens1ovalMaterials Machined (partial list)

  • Germanium
  • Zinc Selenide, Zinc Sulfide & Cleartran®
  • Silicon
  • IR chalcogenide glass (GASIR®, AMTIR®, IG4, IG6)
  • Acrylics, Zeonex® and polycarbonate
  • CaF2 & BaF2
  • Aluminum & copper
  • Ni-plated steel and Nibron

Equipment & Capability

We employ the latest slow-tool servo technology on our 3-axis machines enabling us to produce non-rotationally symmetric surfaces including toroids, cylinders and free-forms.  We can produce bi-aspheric lenses 4mm in size to hemispherical domes up to 350mm in diameter. All our machines incorporate the latest hydrostatic slide-ways and linear motor technology.  They are also fitted with heavy-duty spindles.

Equipment (partial list)

  • Precitech Nanoform 200 (Hi-Speed)
  • Precitech Nanoform 350
  • Moore Nanotech 250 with Slow-Tool Servo (x2)
  • Precitech 250 Ultra with Slow-Tool Servo
  • Schneider SLG-120 CNC Generator
  • Schneider SLP-120 CNC Polisher
  • LOH C-2SL & C-2 CNC Edging Systems

We have extensive metrology to ensure the demanding characterization of aspheric and hybrid surfaces.  Surface profilometry is performed with our Talysurf PGI Series 2 and PGI 1240 instruments.  Mild-departure aspheric surfaces can also be directly characterized using our Fisba phase-shifting interferometer.  Our Talysurf CCI 3000A white light interferometer provides non-contact measurement of surface quality and diffractive features. The diamond-turning facility is supported by the in-house capabilities of Phoenix Optical Technologies to generate blanks, produce custom tooling and polish non-diamond-turned surfaces. diamon-lens2oval The combination of equipment stability and skilled machinists lead to vastly improved form control and surface finishes on all materials.  Phoenix is ISO 9001:2000 certified since 1997.  We hold the following typical form and roughness tolerances.  This table is meant only as a rough guide as actual specifications are strongly dependent upon component geometry:

We hold the following typical form and roughness tolerances. This table is meant only as a rough guide as actual specifications are strongly dependent upon component geometry:
Material Roughness (ra) Surface Form (um)
ZnS or Cleartran® 4 nm 0.25 to 0.6
ZnSe 5 nm 0.25 to 0.6
Germanium 3 nm 0.25 to 0.6
Silicon < 12 nm 0.4 to 0.6
Chalcogenide Glass 5 nm 0.25 to 0.6
CaF2 & BaF2 < 10 nm < 0.4
Acrylic 5 nm 0.3+
Zeonex ® 8 nm 0.3+
Polycarbonate < 10 nm 0.4+
Aluminum < 8 nm 0.125 to 1.0
Other Metals 3 to 8 nm 0.3 to 1.0
Values based on measurements performed with our Talysurf CCI white light interferometer.

For additional information please visit http://phoenixopticaltechnologies.co.uk/

ITAR NOTE:Information provided to our UK partner is in accordance with and under the authority of 22 CFR 125.4 (b)(2). It is authorized under Technical Assistance Agreement TA 03481-13, as amended by the U.S. Government for export only to the United Kingdom for use by Naked Optics Corp (herein NOC) and Phoenix Optical Glass Ltd. (herein POGL). It is not transferred to any unapproved party or otherwise be disposed of in any other country, either in their original form or after being incorporated into other end items without the prior written approval of the U.S. Department of State.