R.F. Royce. Makers and manufacturers of high accuracy optics for science and industry.

Science and Industry Section - High quality optics for a wide variety of scientific and industrial applications

On-axis parabolic, ellipsoidal and hyperbolic mirrors down to f/3 and shorter.

Off-axis, unobstructed collimators and beam expanders NEW!

Off-axis parabolic, ellipsoidal and hyperbolic mirrors.

ConVex aspheric surfaces, both on and off-axis

Single and multiple element refractive systems.

Larger high-accuracy optical flats up to 16".

Interferometric analysis.

Custom design work and design assistance.

Mirrors can be fabricated to high accuracy up to 16" in diameter. For parabolic mirrors double pass autocollimation testing is used to insure the highest accuracy. In other cases compensating lenses may be used in combination with an autocollimator or at the radius of curvature as is appropriate. Substrates include Pyrex, Zerodur, fused silica, optical glass, plate glass and many others as need and availability dictates.

These as well as other sections can be fabricated from parents up to 19 inches in optical diameter and as fast as f/2. For example, a 6 inch off-axis paraboloidal mirror, a child section of a 16 inch f/2 parent, with the focus 5 inches off-axis (2 inches outside the diameter) may have a focal length of approximately 32 inches, or f/5.33. These off-axis mirrors can be cut from solid parents or fabricated by unique and proprietary blocking techniques that allow oddly shaped and proportioned pieces to be worked and produced at prices below other manufacturers. Items may have other than flat rear surfaces and items of varying thicknesses may be blocked simultaniously. Material may be Pyrex, Zerodur, optical glass or virtually anything else that is available and suitable for traditional grinding, polishing and figuring.

This service is not meant to supply amateurs with Cassegrain secondaries. It is primarily for scientific and military institutions looking for secondaries for long-wavelength high-energy scientific laser systems as a less expensive alternative to fabrication than using Hindle spheres or shells. Substrate material is fused silica and these secondaries can be made up to 12" in diameter. Secondaries are tested through the back using a unique embodiment of the Schmadel test and can be very accurately made but the effectiveness of the unique methodology is only as good as the characterization of the primary and to a degree the fabrication quality of the primary itself.

Please note that we are ITAR compliant and prefer customers that are US nationals such as universities and scientific institutions.

Convex off-axis mirrors can be produced similarly from ZKN7, optical glass and Zerodur substrates. Proprietary testing methods allow for the production of extremely high accuracy convex aspherical surfaces. As in the above concave surface items, off-axis sections may be cut out and multiple items manufactured from a single parent.

We make larger and smaller flats from 1/2" to 16". Shapes range from circular to elliptical through rectangular, octagonal or other shapes. These flats also include elliptical Newtonian secondary mirrors and Herschel wedges up to 10" minor axis

Items can be interferometrically tested if necessary and a full analysis supplied with the components. Depending upon configuration, surfaces accuracies up to .97 Strehl are routinely accomplished on monolithic pieces. With blocked and trepanned off-axis sections Strehls of .98 and beyond are possible.

We are not limited to reflective optical systems and have designed and produced refracting systems for various applications.

Actual system design from scratch or assistance on existing designs is available. In many cases a design can be improved for manufacturing purposes by slightly adjusting one or more dimensions that result in a considerable cost savings. We use Zemax software and can exchange files.