Prisms

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Product Information

Prisms as perfect custom components

Prisms are transparent optical elements with flat polished surfaces that refract, reflect or disperse light. They are easily posittioned inside an optical system and offer excellent thermal stability. Total internal reflection is possible to avoid loss of light in the optical path.

Product examples:

Right-angle prisms
Rhomboid prisms
Penta prisms
TIR prisms
Cube beamsplitters
Roof prisms
Porro prisms

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Advantages

SCHOTT, a prism manufacturer, masters the entire value chain and leverages its reliable portfolio to produce custom optical prisms
SCHOTT offers unique prisms in different processing stages: matt, polished, coated, cemented and assembled
The most appropriate processing method (CNC or pressing) is selected depending on the quantity, size and type of glass chosen in order to offer the best quality product
Flexible production process – from a single piece to serial production
Customized coatings
Extensive expertise in gluing, cementing and sub-assembling to integrate prisms into custom designed hardware

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Supply Forms

Optical prisms are available as:

Supply Forms	Dimensions	Examples of Products
Pressings	10 – 200 mm	Right-angle prisms Rhomboid prisms Penta prisms TIR prisms Cube beamsplitters Roof prisms Porro prisms
Cut blanks
Prisms polished
Prisms coated
Sub-assemblies

Depending on the customer’s specifications, two different manufacturing processes are possible at SCHOTT to offer the best possible quality and to improve manufacturing efficiency:

1) Pressing:

Melting → Pressing → Polishing → Coating → Sub-assembly

2) CNC machining:

Melting → CNC-sawing (cut blank) → Polishing → Coating → Sub-assembly

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Technical Details

Materials used:

Optical glasses
Typical prism glasses: SCHOTT N-BK7^®, N-BK7HT, N-BAK4HT, N-SK2HT, N-SK4, N-SF57HTultra, SF57HTultra, SF6HT, SF2, SF11
Fused silica

Attribute	Commercial Quality	Precision Quality	Ultra-Precision Quality
Size	10 - 200 mm	10 - 200 mm	10 - 200 mm
Size tolerance*	± 0.2 mm	± 0.1 mm	± 0.05 mm
Angle tolerance*	< 1.5 arc minutes	< 1 arc minute	< 10 arc seconds
Surface accuracy*	1 λ	λ/4	λ/10
Surface quality (scratch & dig)*	80/50	40/20	20/10
AR coating*	Ravg < 1.5 %	Ravg < 0.5 %	Custom designed
Order quantity*	From 1 piece to serial production*
Delivery time*	6 – 10 weeks	6 – 10 weeks	6 – 10 weeks