High laser powers, harsh industrial environments, or hard to process materials can mean the use of mirrors as focussing optics is the only choice.

There are several possibilities,

An Off Axis Paraboloidal (OAP) mirror.

In theory these can offer perfect performance, but are not without problems.

Alignment is critical, such mirrors can be 30 times more sensitive than a lens to align properly to the incoming beam. Costs are high, especially in small numbers, and the range of focal lengths are restricted, especially for long focal lengths. It is often not possible to reverse engineer existing OAP mirrors, forcing the user to return to the original equipment supplier for high priced spares.

Laser Beam Products can supply new OAP’s, and are often able to repair used OAP mirrors.

A Cylindrical & Spherical mirror.

This offers a “straight through” design for a mirror based focus system. Alignment is simple and just about any focal length is possible (over 5”). The mirrors are repairable, reducing costs even further.

Two spherical mirrors.

Spherical mirrors cost a fraction of aspherical mirrors such as OAP’s. They are also easily repaired, and alignment is much less critical. Any focal length greater than 5” is possible, up to 1 metre or more

The performance of the two focus systems here is extremely good, approaching diffaction limited in many situations.

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Laser Beam Products offer Laser Mirrors & Optics ZnSe laser lenses, ZnSe laser optics, CO2 laser mirrors, Infra Red optics, Copper mirrors, Aluminium mirrors, silicon mirrors, Molybdenum mirrors, beam expanders, phase retarding mirrors, Potassium Chloride (KCl) windows, gold coated mirrors, beam delivery optics, gold coated copper mirrors, reflectors for industrial cutting and welding.