OPTICAL FLATS

For more than 50 years Advanced Optics has taken great pride in manufacturing the highest quality optical flats. We maintain an extensive inventory of optical flats, available in a wide variety of accuracies (λ/4, λ/10 and λ/20). Our extensive array of in-stock materials, paired with our years of experience allows us to provide a high degree of parallelism, if required, to meet the most challenging and exacting applications.

The term optical flat is also commonly referred to as “test plates” or “reference flats”. An optical flat is a piece of glass that has been precision polished to a specific flatness on one or both sides. Optical flats may be used as a reference (test plate) against which the flatness of an unknown surface can be compared. The term “Optical Flat” is often used interchangeably with other optical components such as optical windows and as a substrate for optical mirrors.

SINGLE AND DOUBLE SIDED OPTICAL FLAT SPECIFICATIONS:

• In-stock optical flats precision polished up to 8 inches in diameter.
• Ability to polish up to 12 inches in diameter.
• Accuracy of λ/4, λ/10 or λ/20 available, many in-stock for immediate shipment.
• Every optical flat comes with a Certificate of Calibration traceable to the NIST.
• Extensive stock of raw materials available in-house for fast turnaround.
• In-stock optical flats uncoated with the option of adding an anti-reflective coating.
• Custom fabrication available including custom sizes, shapes, holes, bevels and coatings.
• Optical flat resurfacing with a fast turnaround.
• Each optical flat may be ordered with it's own finely crafted storage case.

AVAILABLE MATERIALS

Advanced Optics carries an extensive stock of raw materials including:

• Fused Silica
• Fused Quartz
• ZERODUR®
• BOROFLOAT®33
• ClearCeram®Z
• ULE®
• N-BK7®

View our in-stock single and double sided fused silica optical flats below:

The accuracy of each optical flat is traceable to the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Fused Silica Technical Data Sheet from Corning Incorporated (pdf)

Optical Flat Interpretation

Double Surface Optical Flat/Optical Windows

Advanced Optics offers in-stock fused silica double sided optical flats that may also be used as optical windows. Fused silica offers superior transmission characteristics, a high degree of purity, exceptional environmental durability and a low coefficient of thermal expansion.

Dual Surface Optical Flats/Optical Windows are an excellent choice when an optical system requires separation between two environments while passing a specific wavelength(s) of light or for demanding interferometry requirements.

Whether you require custom optical fabrication or one of our many off-the-shelf flats, call today for a competitive quote!