SCHOTT is expanding its expertise with respect to prism manufacturing and extending its glass portfolio to include the new HT glass N-BAK4HT

Prisms perform important functions in many types of optical systems, as rear surface mirrors, beam deflectors or color filters, for example. And yet, developing optical measurement technology for ever more precise systems places much higher demands on how prisms are manufactured. For this reason, SCHOTT places particular importance on this area and has successfully realized numerous developments that expand and strengthen the company’s expertise in this field in recent years.

Prisms are often key components in optical systems like reflex cameras, operating and light microscopes, binoculars and inspection systems. In these cases, prisms are used to deflect beams, rotate images, scatter or separate white light.

For this reason, SCHOTT Advanced Optics decided to expand its range of grinding and polishing equipment and add new technical capabilities and measurement technology, particularly at its site in Penang, Malaysia. SCHOTT Advanced Optics therefore now has the skills needed to be able to reliably supply high-precision prisms made of various optical materials in different sizes and refinement levels (ground, polished, coated, cemented, etc.).

Today, SCHOTT Advanced Optics specializes in manufacturing customer-specific solutions and offers various types of prisms, including porro prisms, roof prisms and 90° prisms in sizes of up to 200 mm with surface quality of up to λ/10 and scratch & digs of up to 10 – 20, both coated and uncoated.

The advantage for customers is quite obvious: SCHOTT Advanced Optics is able to rely on its excellent command of the entire value chain as well as its own broad range of optical materials. This means the customer is able to leverage broad knowledge of applications. For instance, optical materials have been developed and optimized especially for use as prisms to the point that prisms made of lead-free and arsenic-free glass, low Tg or High Transmission (HT) glasses, like N-SK4, SF57HHT, SF6HT, SF 2 and SF 11, are now available.

The company is constantly expanding its range of glass products that are ideally suited for being processed into prisms. At Optatec, SCHOTT Advanced Optics will be unveiling a new standard quality glass called N-BAK4HT that not only complements its existing range of special glass products that offer improved transmission, but also rounds off its line of prism glasses just perfectly.

SCHOTT HT glasses are special versions of its proven optical glasses that offer significantly improved transmission. The higher transmission, especially in the blue spectral range, translates into significantly better color and image quality, but also improved mesopic vision. Furthermore, the “thermal lensing” effect is reduced by the fact that less energy is absorbed. HT glasses are thus ideally suited for use in sport optics and high-performance projectors, like those used in 3-D movie theaters, and anywhere else high transmission is important.

SCHOTT is constantly working on improving the properties of its glass products and expanding the processing possibilities. For the company as an expert on optics, expanding prism manufacturing at its site in Penang and adding the N-BAK4HT glass to its range of HT glasses that have already demonstrated their added value in final applications represent further steps on constantly improving its infrastructure and technical expertise for the benefit of its customers.