Optical Surfaces supplies fast-focusing parabola to laser facility
Optical Surfaces
F0.8 on-axis parabolic mirror
Optical Surfaces has delivered a F0.8 on-axis parabola of 175mm diameter to the Central Laser Facility (CLF) at the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxfordshire.
The CLF at the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) is a laser facility used for applications such as experiments in physics, chemistry and biology; accelerating subatomic particles to high energies; probing chemical reactions on short timescales; and studying biochemical and biophysical processes critical to life.
The diffraction-limited on-axis mirror due to be installed on the Astra Gemini laser-beam line will focus the beam-line energy to produce a maximum focused intensity of c.10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Wcm-2, enabling researchers to explore new areas of physics.
The optics that Optical Surfaces supplied were manufactured in Zerodur and coated using a special-type high-performance UV-silver coating, suitable for high reflectivity (R>98 per cent) throughout the wavelength range between 350-800Nm.
Key benefits of product application
- Optical Surfaces claims the fast-focusing on-axis parabolic mirror it produced has a surface accuracy better than lambda/10 P-V and smoothness of 20/10 scratch/dig.
- The focus of this optic is expected to deliver more than five times the laser intensity that was previously achievable.
- According to the company, the optic’s excellent surface quality and high-reflectivity coatings will provide RAL researchers with the performance their experiments require.
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