Dedicated to serve the optics industry

Boulder Optical Design Inc. is dedicated to serving the optics industry with high-level scientific and technical support in optical physics. We are proud to introduce our optical monitor system, which brings high-accuracy thin film processing to a new level.

Measurement systems

I decided to not call these "products," because most are individually installed and also involve lots of support.

White light optical monitor system. Our "flagship" system, which is mature in development. It is better than any similar syste, and is also less in cost. The main feature is flexibility, so we can install it in practically any coating system.

Enjoy this optical monitor endpoint movie showing the endpoint spectra and theoretical target at the end of each layer in a long thin film deposition run.

Automated inspection system Batch testing of parts for surface quality. Pass/Fail determination for ISO-10110-7 surface specs (5/NxA), aspect ratios to identify scratches, efficient data storage, documentation of results. We have been doing automated inspection for decades, but incarnation is lightyears ahead of the curve. See the presentation above for more details.

We invite you to watch this short movie clip of reviewing defects after a measurement is complete.

Laser damage testing system. This is basically a high-intensity laser combined with the automated surface inspection system above, where the surface is mapped out before and after high-intensity laser exposure.

Spatial thin film measurement system. This is also based on a 3D printer stage, with a custom sturdy and stiff optical breadboard plate mounted on the bottom. This base is convenient for setting up a wide range of measurements. It can do step and measure, and also it can do a faster scan while in motion. This very sensitive system can be used for measuring uniformity, and also for measurement of spatially-varying coatings. See the brochure linked above for more information.

Ringdown measurement system. Loss measurement of low-loss optics. Software includes integration with spread sheet for certification reports.

Surface scattering measurement system. This is a simple and inexpensive system for measuring background scattering from a background surface. Background scattering is from an acculation of many very small surface imperfections, and is normally specified in parts-per-million (ppm). Large surface defects are specified by ISO or Mil-spec, and are classified and counted by the automated inspection system described above.