Optics

Custom Telescope Optics (TIOS)

Build high-performance, large aperture optical systems for space, airborne and ground astronomy, directed energy, surveillance, countermeasures, and communications.

Coherent | Tinsley has nearly 100 years of experience in the fabrication, metrology, coating, and assembly of reflective and refractive optical components, sub-assemblies, and assemblies - up to 1.5 m.

Fabrication, Coating, Assembly, and Metrology

Use Coherent Tinsley Optics in the most demanding applications and mission critical systems, when there's no chance for a second chance.

Product Specifications

Key Capabilities 

Polishing 

Spherical, aspherical, cylindrical, and freeform polishing of optics up to nearly 2 m diameters. Coherent uses a deterministic computer-controlled polishing technology that is volume scalable to fabricate high-performance optical surfaces in a variety of materials including standard and low expansion glasses, aluminum, beryllium, nickel, and silicon carbide.  

Coating 

The acquisition of Quantum Coatings enables Coherent | Tinsley to deliver the world’s premier space qualified metal coatings, including protected silver (FSS99) and protected gold (FSG98), as well as traditional evaporated coatings. 

Assembly 

Vertically integrated capabilities for producing opto-mechanical assemblies, including expertise in space-qualified and military-grade, lightweight assemblies. Expertise includes precision bonding, precision optical alignment, and the integration of mechanical flexures for low-stress optical mounts.  

Metrology 

We take interferometry, surface roughness, and profilometry data, and apply proprietary processing algorithms to generate component surface error maps. These are then used to control our fabrication equipment to successfully correct surface errors across low, mid, and high spatial frequency bands. This enables us to economically produce optics with unmatched surface accuracy and optical performance on a prototype through production basis.  

Featured Blog

Photonics for Space Applications

Coherent optics, coatings, lasers, crystals, and fibers are deployed everywhere from the Hubble Space Telescope to the New Horizons spacecraft and beyond.

Photonics to Infinity and Beyond