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Vertically integrated photonics products manufacturer, Thorlabs, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the business assets of Crystalline Mirror Solutions (CMS). CMS has pioneered the development of substrate-transferred single-crystal optical coatings. Mirrors fabricated with this proprietary direct-bonding process are capable of greater than 99.999% reflectivity and less than 5 ppm scattering and absorption losses. The single-crystal nature of these coatings provides orders-of-magnitude performance improvements that are attractive in a variety of demanding applications such as trace gas detection, laser-based material processing, optical clock optimization, spatial sensing solutions, and quantum optics.
By combining advanced semiconductor microfabrication techniques with bulk optics technology, CMS has developed single-crystal GaAs/AlGaAs-based coatings that provide three key performance advantages over state-of-the-art IBS-deposited dielectric multilayers: dramatically improved thermal noise performance, overcoming the line width limitations of cavity-stabilized laser systems; lower mid-IR absorption, yielding higher resolution for trace gas detection of key molecules with signatures in the mid-IR spectral regime; and significantly enhanced thermal conductivity, thus meeting the heat dissipation requirements sought after by high-power laser manufacturers. The crystalline coatings developed by CMS are typically 5 mm to 200 mm in diameter but can be any size or arbitrary shape with bonding to any planar, convex, or concave surface with a radius of curvature as tight as 10 cm. Additionally, the coatings can be engineered with any center wavelengths from 900 nm to greater than 5000 nm.
CMS is looking forward to substrate-transferred single-crystal interference coatings in applications requiring the ultimate levels of optical and thermo-mechanical performance. This acquisition brings an entirely new set of opportunities for CMS’ unique and unrivaled technology. Combining the crystalline coating and direct bonding expertise of CMS with the global reach and vertically-integrated manufacturing capabilities of Thorlabs equips the world’s leading photonics company with the world’s best laser mirrors. According to Alex Cable, President and CEO of Thorlabs, the addition of these high-reflectivity optical coatings to the Thorlabs portfolio will help in the company's continued advancement of laser-based manufacturing and precision optical metrology and instrumentations.
Thorlabs intends to maintain the crystalline coating business at its current facility in Santa Barbara, forming a new group, Thorlabs Crystalline Solutions (TCS), which will be part of Thorlabs’ Optics Business Unit in Newton, NJ.
