North Optics’s UV Fused Silica Metallic Mirrors consist of UV Fused Silica substrates and Enhanced Al/Protective Ag /Protective Au metallic coatings. Both stocked and custom versions are available.

The UV-fused silica used for manufacturing our mirror substrates is sourced from Corning. UV Fused Silica is an amorphous glass material fabricated using SiO2 with few inclusions. UV Fused Silica is known for its superior optical properties, in addition to great mechanical strength and low thermal expansion.

Metallic-coated mirrors feature a wide reflective spectral range, low cost, and are non-sensitive to the incidence angle and polarization state. Compared with dielectric-coated mirrors, however, metal mirrors have lower reflectance and laser damage threshold, therefore metallic-coated mirrors are the economical option for applications requiring a wide rejection range and less strict reflectance standards. 

Three metal materials are utilized to coat the mirror substrates: Aluminum (Al) is the most prevalent metal for manufacturing reflection coating, it features high reflectance from UV to NIR spectrum, and is price-competitive. Silver (Ag) ’s high-reflection zone is located at visible-to-NIR, and its reflection rate is higher than aluminum, however, silver under exposure to air suffers from oxidation, which leads to blackening and degradation in performance and strength. Gold (Au) exhibits high reflectance from NIR to Far Infrared regions and is more consistent than the other two metals. The drawback is the higher cost and the soft characteristic.

North Optics is a leading supplier of optical mirrors. With over ten years of experience, we have developed our high-tech production line and in-house ISO9001-compliant inspection labs to ensure the quality of our products before dispatch. Apart from industrial-grade mirrors, we also offer super-polished mirror substrates.