Lenses

A lens is one of the most basic and important optical elements and image formation is one of the main uses for a lens.

Since lenses are transmissive, light throughput is always a worthwhile consideration. Generally speaking, selecting a suitable optical material is critical to maximizing light transmitting through a lens element.

Rainbow Research Optics, Inc. carries a wide range of optical materials in stock to quickly address customer requirements for fast lens prototyping. Stock materials include BK 7 and synthetic fused silica, in addition to specialty optical materials like calcium fluoride (CaF2), germanium (Ge), magnesium fluoride (MgF2), silicon (Si), zinc selenide (ZnSe), and zinc sulfide (ZnS).

Most lenses include spherical surfaces, since they are the most straightforward to generate, polish, and test. Each lens radius requires dedicated grinding and polishing tools. In addition, a Test Plate of known radius is typically required to verify the spherical surface. Rainbow Research Optics currently has over 1,800 grinding and polishing tools and 1,000 Test Plate sets. Our Test Plate List is available for download on our website at www.RainbowOptics.com. Working with existing tooling and test plates saves both time and money for demanding, time-sensitive requirements.

Rainbow Research Optics provides singlet and multi-element lenses for laser and imaging applications. In addition to the standard lenses described in our catalog, we also fabricate the majority of our lenses to exacting customer specifications.

We offer prototype to production volumes of lenses, from 3 to 406 mm diameter, primarily for defense, biomedical, and laser applications. While we can respond very quickly for small volume and prototype requests, our production lens capacity is greater than 10,000 pieces per month.