Optical Surfaces supplies high-precision spectrograph optics for land- and space-based astronomical telescopes and has, for years, been the preferred supplier to some astronomy research groups.
Notable projects include the Narval stellar spectropolarimeter installed on the 2m Bernard Lyot telescope in the French Pyrenees, the high-resolution optical spectrograph (HROS) based on the 8m Gemini telescope in Chile, the fibre-fed extended-range optical spectrograph (FEROS) at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and the Espadons spectrograph at the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope (CFHT).
According to the company, a spectrograph is used to study the chemical/physical conditions that exist through a cross section of space.
Combined with an astronomical telescope, a spectrograph can reveal the details that are stored in the spectral distribution of light from a distant astronomical body.
With the main workshops and test facilities deep underground in an area excavated from solid chalk, temperatures in Optical Surfaces' production facility remain constant year-round and vibration is practically non-existent.
These are said to be important considerations when making, mounting and testing high-precision telescope spectrograph optics.
