Custom Sapphire Optics
Noni Optics supplies high-precision Sapphire optical components including sapphire windows, sapphire lenses, sapphire prisms, sapphire wafers, and sapphire domes.
Why Sapphire Optical Components
The sapphire boasts remarkable surface hardness, surpassed solely by diamond, rendering it resistant to most scratches. Chemically inert and water-insoluble, the sapphire substrate remains unaffected by typical acids or alkalis up to approximately 1000°C. Moreover, optical sapphire exhibits exceptional infrared transmittance, spanning both near and far-infrared spectrums.
Due to these qualities,sapphire optical component have been seen in extensive applications across scientific research, military endeavors, and the aerospace industry.
Properties of Sapphire Optical Components
Let’s dive into the outstanding optical characteristics of sapphire to find out why optical sapphire is unreplaceable in some applications?
High Hardness of Sapphire
The hardness of the sapphire substrate is first-class, with a rating of 9 on the Mohs hardness scale, second only to diamond. This gives it a significant advantage over other optical materials in applications requiring scratch and abrasion resistance.
Radiation Resistance Optical Sapphire
The sapphire substrate has some resistance to radiation and high-energy particles, which gives it an advantage in applications such as nuclear science and high-energy physics experiments.
Low Optical Absorption
Sapphire has very low optical absorption in the visible and near-infrared range, reducing energy loss in optical components.
Superior Thermal Stability
Sapphire has high thermal conductivity and heat capacity, which can maintain stability in high-temperature environments, making it superior in applications requiring thermal management to improve system stability, reliability, and performance.
Excellent Sapphire Transmission
Sapphire does exhibit good light transmission from ultraviolet to infrared, making it an ideal material for optical components, infrared laser systems, and other optical applications.
Chemical Stability
Sapphire has good corrosion resistance to many chemicals and solvents, so it remains stable in different environments.
What NONI Can Offer with Sapphire Optics?
Noni can provide customers with a large number of stable customized sapphire optical devices for a long time, including various high-precision sapphire lenses, sapphire windows, sapphire domes, sapphire wafers, and sapphire prisms. We also provide the sapphire anti-reflective coating to improve efficiency in UV and IR applications.
Application Examples of Sapphire Opticals
Enhanced by different films, sapphire optics acquire exceptional optical benefits across diverse applications, particularly in advanced sectors. This makes them extensively utilized in scientific research, military applications, the infrared domain, as well as biotechnology and medical fields. Noni Optics has accumulated extensive experience and expertise, dedicated to providing top-quality sapphire optics tailored to the specific requirements of our clients.
APPLICATION
Aviation Field
Sapphire Optics in Aviation Field
With the continuous development of aircraft and optoelectronic equipment, the requirements for optical materials are becoming higher and higher, and the unique properties of sapphire make it irreplaceable in various optical applications. The high transmittance, low optical absorption, excellent optical performance and stability in various environments of sapphire material make it an ideal choice for key components such as wave-transmissive windows, fairings, guide covers, photoelectric windows, gyroscopes, etc. . Especially in the field of military equipment, components such as fairings made of sapphire single crystal have been widely used in different types of vehicles, such as aircraft, satellites, ships and submarines.
Astronomical Observation
Sapphire Optics in Astronomical Observation
The sapphire substrate has good chemical stability, strong resistance to cosmic ray radiation, and thermal noise is only one-sixteenth of that of quartz glass, and its density is 1.9 times that of quartz glass, making them ideal for optical components in space or high-altitude astronomical observations. Based on these advantages, applying sapphire optical components in astronomical observation systems, especially optical media in interferometers, can significantly improve measurements' sensitivity and accuracy.
Ti:Al2O3 laser
Ti:Al2O3 laser
A Ti:Al2O3 laser is a laser based on a Ti-doped Al2O3 crystal in which titanium ions are doped into the sapphire crystal, changing its optical properties and making it an effective laser material. These lasers offer pulsed, continuous, quasi-continuous, and mode-locked operation, enhancing power output, tuning range, frequency stability, line width compression, and beam quality. Their utility spans nonlinear physics, terahertz generation, spectroscopy, metrology, multiphoton microscopy, and biomedical imaging. In military and engineering, they find roles in laser ranging, photoelectric interference, infrared countermeasures, laser communication, ocean detection, atmospheric monitoring, laser surgery, and micro-processing.
Sapphire Fiber Sensors
Sapphire Fiber Sensors
Sapphire single crystal fiber sensors exhibit excellent optical transmission across the visible to near-infrared spectrum. Coupled with sapphire's high-temperature resistance, they are pivotal in high-temperature sensing and near-infrared laser transmission, notably in biomedicine. Beyond temperature and laser transmission, these sensors monitor systems up to 1600°C, tracking structural performance, material degradation, and parameters like pressure, stress, strain, and chemical concentrations. This makes them indispensable for diverse applications involving physical and chemical parameter measurement in demanding environments.
Tailored Coatings for Sapphire Optics
To fully harness the exceptional properties of sapphire optical components and deploy them in cutting-edge fields, specific coating materials are employed to enhance their capabilities. Different applications may require different types of coatings, so a custom coating solution may be more suitable for a specific application.
At Noni Optics, our E-beam evaporation coating technology is employed to produce pristine, compact films on diverse sapphire optics, such as sapphire anti-reflective coating.
Know-how about Optical Sapphire
Some important information you might want to know.
What are common coating materials for sapphire optics?
Sapphire optical components may require coating in some cases to enhance their optical properties, such as transmittance, reflectivity, anti-reflection, etc. Common sapphire coating materials are as follows:
- Silicon Dioxide (SiO2): Used to make anti-reflection (AR) coatings to reduce surface reflection and increase transmittance.
- Aluminum Oxide (Al2O3): Used to protect the sapphire surface and improve durability.
- Metals (such as aluminum, silver, and gold): used to make mirrors to reflect specific wavelengths of light.
- Multilayer film stacking: Multilayer film stacking structures can achieve complex optical properties, such as wavelength-selective transmission or reflection.
What is sapphire anti-reflection (AR) coating?
The sapphire anti-reflection (AR) coating refers to a specialized optical coating applied to sapphire substrates to minimize unwanted reflections of light at the interface between the air and the sapphire surface. This coating is designed to improve the transmission of light through the sapphire material by reducing the amount of light that is reflected back.
This is important for applications that require maximum transmission of light in a specific wavelength range, such as laser systems, imaging systems, etc.
When to apply sapphire anti-reflection (AR) coating?
Sapphire anti-reflection coatings play a crucial role in enhancing the optical performance of sapphire components across a range of applications by minimizing reflections and maximizing light transmission. Here are some major applications of sapphire anti-reflection (AR) coating as follows:
- AR-coated sapphire windows benefit from AR coatings to maximize light transmission and minimize reflections, and enhance image quality and clarity in microscopy
- AR coatings on sapphire elements in laser systems help improve laser output power and efficiency.
- AR-coated sapphire components can be used in sensors for various industries, including aerospace, automotive, and industrial.