Raw Materials for Producing Optical Elements

doi:10.1117/3.2237066.ch3

Book: Optics Inspections and Tests: A Guide for Optics Inspectors and Designers

Author(s): Michael Hausner

Published: 2017

https://doi.org/10.1117/3.2237066.ch3

Abstract

An optical material is the raw material used to fabricate optical elements that are assembled into optical systems. Those elements are lenses, windows, mirrors, filters, and domes. Optical elements transmit or reflect the electromagnetic radiation in one or more spectral regions: IR, VIS, or UV, as designed and specified in the relevant drawing and/or specification by the optics designer. Optical materials include different kind of glasses, crystals, and plastics. Because some metals (aluminum, for example) are also used to fabricate mirrors, they can be classified for this matter as an optical material.