Optics and Telescope Makers

Production challenges

In all modern production situations, time is a precious resource. In optics manufacturing, metrology has historically been a cause of delay, in that glass in production would need to be removed from production, or at best, production needed to be paused for interrim measurements to be made.

With 4D Technology’s fast, vibration immune measurement technology, precision glass manufacturers can measure in situ, on the polishing machine, as shown in the picture below.

Large, Monolithic Mirrors

Large surfaces, whether the monolithic glass blanks produced at world-leading mirror labs—such as the one at the University of Arizona’s Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab—or large multi-mirror arrays have obvious challenges in reducing vibration in the system to low enough levels to get good measurements.

Fortunately, our dynamic interferometers are light, and small, and fast. Some manufacturers mount these instruments in towers or on gantrys above the production floor—gaining a lookdown measurement with ease.

Polish and surface finish

Checking polish on large optics is difficult using ordinary profilometry, because their sample stages are limited in weight and dimensions. NanoCam measures nanometer scale variations in height. It is portable and safe to place on an optical surface, nor does it need vibration isolation.