Optical Surfaces (OS) has published a 12-page guide designed to enable scientists and engineers to better understand optical surface quality.
The ‘Practical Guide to Surface Quality’ discusses how surface imperfections can be misunderstood and misinterpreted.
The presence of defects on the surface of an optical component can scatter light which in some circumstances may affect performance.
The OS illustrated surface quality application guide includes an introduction to commonly used surface quality terms such as ’scratch’ and ’dig’ as well as providing definition of the MIL spec, ISO 10110 and DIN 3140 standards.
Additionally, the guide details typical application for different quoted scratch/dig surface qualities from 80/50 right through to 10/5 - high precision optics, used for the most demanding high power laser applications.
