Common Laser Optics Materials

Understanding the most commonly used laser optics materials will allow for easy navigation of EO’s wide selection of laser optics components. Table 1 below lists common substrates used for laser optics, along with their key properties, followed by transmission curves for each material. All values in Table 1 are at 1064nm and 20° C and all transmission curves show the internal transmission of 5mm thick substrates without Fresnel reflections. Transmission data was gathered using Edmund Optics’ spectrophotometers.

 *Sapphire is a birefringent material and all specifications correspond parallel to C-Axis

Table 1: Common laser optics substrates and their key properties (all values at 1064nm and 20° C). Materials are listed from smallest refractive index to largest refractive index. The small dollar sign by KrF grade fused silica indicates that it is slightly more expensive than UV grade fused silica. SImilarly, the small dollar sign in parentheses by IR grade fused silica indicates that it is sometimes slightly more expensive than UV grade fused silica, but it is almost never cheaper

Figure 1: Internal transmission curves for common laser optics materials with no Fresnel reflections

More information on key properties of optical glass types can be found in our Optical Glass application note and information specific to materials for infrared applications can be found in our Correct Material for Infrared Applications application note, although not all of these materials are compatible with laser systems.

References

1.  I. H. Malitson. “A redetermination of some optical properties of calcium fluoride,” Appl. Opt. 2, 1103-1107 (1963)
2. “Corning HPFS® 7979, 7980, 8655 Fused Silica.” Corning, February 2014.
3. “Optical Glass Data Sheets.” Schott, February 2014.
4. I. H. Malitson. “Refraction and dispersion of synthetic sapphire,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. 52, 1377-1379 (1962)
5. Collier, David, and Rod Schuster. “Superpolishing Deep-UV Optics.” Photonics Spectra, February 2005.

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