Image Credits: Optical Surfaces Ltd.
Optical Surfaces is a leading producer of fast focusing on-axis parabolic mirrors precisely manufactured to customer specifications and supplied with full surface quality test data.
Supplying on-axis paraboloids to leading research groups around the world, Optical Surfaces heritage in this area dates back over 50 years to the production of large astronomical telescope optics, more than 1 metre (39.4 inches) in diameter for the Royal Greenwich Observatory.
In comparison to an off-axis paraboloid, an on-axis parabola offers certain advantages. The effective f-number that can be achieved is lower therefore more energy can be concentrated. Generally, also alignment of on-axis parabolic mirrors is less critical, thus easier.
The highly experienced and skilled production team at Optical Surfaces can routinely produce both circular and irregularly shaped on-axis parabolic mirrors with a surface accuracy of better than lambda/20 p.v and microroughness typically less than 1.2nm rms. Combining this with an extensive array of high reflectivity coatings enables researchers to achieve the high optical performance and efficiency required by even the most demanding experiments.