Custom Positive/Negative Meniscus Lens in BK7/Fused Silica for Beam Shaping and Focusing

Custom Positive/Negative Meniscus Lens in BK7/Fused Silica for Beam Shaping and Focusing

Material & Core Properties:
These custom lenses are fabricated from two premier optical materials, selected based on your system's wavelength and environmental requirements:

• BK7 (H-K9L) Optical Glass: The industry-standard crown glass offering excellent transmission across the visible and near-IR spectrum (350nm - 2.0µm), high homogeneity, and cost-effectiveness for most applications.

• Fused Silica (SiO₂): Provides superior performance for UV and high-power laser systems. Key properties include extremely low thermal expansion, high laser damage threshold (LDT), and broad transmission from the deep UV (190nm) to near-IR.

• Precision Customization: Both surfaces are custom-ground to specific radii, allowing for the creation of positive (converging) or negative (diverging) meniscus shapes. Lenses are available with high-precision anti-reflective (AR) coatings tailored to your operating wavelength.

Primary Function:
The unique asymmetrical meniscus shape—one convex and one concave surface—enables advanced optical corrections and control.

• Minimizing Aberrations: The meniscus design is fundamental for reducing spherical aberration and field curvature in complex optical assemblies, leading to sharper focus and improved image quality.

• Precise Beam Shaping: Custom radii allow engineers to fine-tune the convergence or divergence of a laser beam, correcting beam profiles or preparing beams for specific processes like fiber coupling.

• System Integration: Serves as a critical corrective element in multi-lens objectives, collimators, and condensers, often providing performance unattainable with simple lens forms.

Key Applications:

• Laser Systems: For beam expansion/contraction, collimation, and focus spot size control in machining, marking, and medical lasers.

• High-Resolution Imaging: Used in microscope objectives, telescope eyepieces, and photographic lenses to correct optical aberrations.

• Fiber Optics & Telecommunications: For efficiently coupling light into and out of optical fibers with minimal loss.

• UV Lithography & Spectroscopy: Fused silica meniscus lenses are critical in deep UV systems where material purity and thermal stability are paramount.