Coated optics with colored coating reflections

Products · Coating Data

The Coating Is Half the Optic

Anti-reflection, high-reflection, and hard-carbon films deposited and tested in-house — matched to your band, your power level, and your environment.

Category 01

Anti-Reflection Coatings

From narrow V-coats for laser lines to broadband stacks covering full sensor bands. Typical performance below — exact specs are engineered per substrate and angle of incidence.

Coating	Band / Line	Typical Substrates	Typical Performance (per surface)	Primary Use
V-Coat 1064	1064 nm	Fused Silica	R < 0.25%, high LIDT	Nd:YAG / fiber laser optics
V-Coat 10.6	10.6 µm	ZnSe, GaAs	R < 0.25%, absorption < 0.2%	CO₂ laser power delivery
BBAR SWIR	0.9 – 1.7 µm	Fused Silica, Si	R_avg < 0.5%	SWIR imaging, rangefinding
BBAR MWIR	3 – 5 µm	Si, Ge, Sapphire, CaF₂	R_avg < 0.5%	MWIR imaging & sensing
BBAR LWIR	8 – 12 µm	Ge, ZnSe, Chalcogenide	R_avg < 0.75% · T > 97% (2-surface, Ge)	Thermal imaging / FLIR
Dual-Band AR	e.g. 3–5 + 8–12 µm	ZnSe, Ge	Built per requirement	Multispectral EO/IR

BBAR 8–12 µm on Ge — typical single-surface reflectance (representative)

V-Coat 1064 nm on Fused Silica — typical single-surface reflectance (representative)

Category 02

High-Reflection Coatings

Metallic and dielectric mirror coatings for beam steering and power handling — from broadband gold to laser-line dielectric stacks.

Coating	Band / Line	Typical Substrates	Typical Performance	Primary Use
Protected Gold	2 – 16 µm	Si, Cu, Glass	R_avg > 98%	Broadband IR beam steering
Protected Silver	0.5 – 12 µm	Glass, Si	R_avg > 97%	VIS–IR broadband mirrors
Protected Aluminum	0.4 – 2 µm	Glass	R_avg > 90%	UV–VIS general purpose
Dielectric HR 1064	1064 nm	Fused Silica	R > 99.5%, high LIDT	Nd:YAG / fiber laser mirrors
Max-R CO₂	10.6 µm	Si, Cu, Mo	R > 99.5%	CO₂ beam delivery, high power

Protected Gold — typical reflectance vs. wavelength (representative)

Choosing metal vs. dielectric: Gold is the broadband IR default — flat ~98–99% from 2 µm out past 16 µm, tolerant of angle and polarization. Dielectric stacks beat it at a single laser line (>99.5%) and take far higher flux without absorption heating, but they are narrowband and angle-sensitive. For high-power CO₂ bend mirrors, specify Max-R on water-cooled Cu when average power exceeds what an uncooled Si mirror can shed.

Engineering note: Every HR mirror we ship is verified spectrophotometrically; laser-line coatings can be supplied with damage-threshold test data on request.

Category 03

DLC Hard-Carbon Coatings

Diamond-like carbon: the survivable front surface for field-exposed Germanium and Silicon optics.

DLC on Germanium (typical)
Function	Single-layer AR + protective armor
Band	8 – 12 µm (LWIR)
Single-surface reflectance	< 1% average
Typical configuration	DLC outside · BBAR inside
2-surface transmission	> 90% (DLC/BBAR on Ge)
Durability	tested to severe abrasion, humidity and salt-fog MIL-spec methods
Field resistance	Sand/rain erosion, repeated cleaning, fingerprints

FLIR Front ElementsVehicle SightsThermal WindowsMaritime Optics

When to specify DLC: any Ge or Si surface that faces weather, sand, wash-down, or human hands. The 1–2 point transmission penalty versus a bare BBAR is the cheapest insurance in electro-optics — a scratched front element costs you the whole objective.

When not to: high-power CO₂ transmission optics (absorption) and interior surfaces that never see contact — use a high-efficiency BBAR there instead.

Verification

Every Coating Run Is Tested

Spectral Verification

Witness samples from every run are measured by spectrophotometer against the transmission/reflectance spec across the full band — not just the center wavelength.

Metrology →

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Durability Testing

Adhesion (tape), moderate/severe abrasion, humidity, and salt-fog exposure per MIL-spec test methods, matched to the environment class on your drawing.

Coating Capability →

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Documented Results

Coating certs ship with the lot: run data, witness-sample curves, and durability results — traceable to serialized parts under our ISO 9001:2015 system.

QA System →

Send Your Band, Power, and Environment

We'll come back with the proposed coating, expected curve, and durability class — usually within a day.

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