Precision Etalons Enable High Resolution, High Contrast Spectroscopy

Optical Surfaces Ltd. announces receipt of an order for precisely matched etalon pairs from The Table Stable Ltd (Mettmenstetten, Switzerland) for use as a key component in their ultra high resolution JRS series interferometers.

Operating in a uniquely stable manufacturing environment – Optical Surfaces’ skilled production team is able to routinely produce the 50mm diameter fused silica etalons pairs for Table Stable with matching accuracies of better than lambda /200. Etalon manufacture places extreme demands on a company’s production capabilities. Material purity, optical figure, plate parallelism, plus surface, spacer and coating quality are all critical to the overall performance of an etalon.

We have worked closely with Optical Surfaces for a long time and have been very pleased with the quality of the matched etalon pairs they supply to us. When hard dielectric coatings are deposited on the substrates differential expansion causes surface strains which distort the surface. We have developed a procedure in cooperation with Optical Surfaces to compensate these forces and so obtain hard coated etalons with surface quality of lambda / 200 or better

Dr John Sandercock, Managing Director of Table Stable