Ruled Diffraction Gratings
Ruled diffraction gratings separate light into different wavelengths using evenly spaced parallel grooves that diffracts light and separates in component wavelength. The division of light into different wavelengths allows users to conduct spectrographic analysis that determines elements structure of materials. Varying diffraction grating types provide precise division, intensity, and resolution in applications ranging from lab instruments to telescopes.
For more than 40 years, OPCO Solutions has been a leading provider of optical design and manufacturing services for customers in the life sciences, spectroscopy, material analysis, defense, aerospace, and semiconductor industries, among many others. OPCO is committed to using the latest technology to produce state-of-the-art optics products.
With our cutting-edge ruling engine we produce superior-quality stock and custom-designed gratings that will meet even the most stringent requirements. We incorporate advanced metrology such as interferometers, Atomic Force Microscopes (AFM) and spectrometers into our rigorous quality assurance procedures.
We have the knowledge, skill, and equipment necessary to fulfill your optical grating requirements. As an ITAR-registered company, we produce optics that meet and exceed industry standards across the board – including ruled diffraction gratings, both reflective gratings and transmission diffraction gratings.
OPCO Solutions offers an extensive selection of stock and custom grating products and services, including:
- Ruled diffraction gratings. We manufacture ruled diffraction gratings using precision ruling engines equipped with diamond tools to inscribe grooves onto reflective-coated glass, polymer, or crystal substrates. Our technicians calculate groove spacing and blaze angles with extreme precision to achieve the desired diffraction performance. Gratings are available in both reflection and transmission configurations.
- Echelle gratings. An echelle diffraction grating is a type of diffraction grating designed with relatively coarse groove spacing and steeply angled grooves, known as a blaze angle. It operates at high diffraction orders to produce extremely high spectral resolution, making it ideal for applications that require precise wavelength separation. Unlike conventional gratings, echelle gratings maximize efficiency at high diffraction orders, allowing them to disperse light into very fine spectral details over a broad wavelength range. They are typically used together with a cross-disperser prism or secondary grating to separate overlapping diffraction orders.
- Dual-blaze gratings. Dual-blaze gratings, also known as double-blazed or two-zone gratings, contain two distinct groove profiles or blaze angles on a single grating surface. These different blaze angles optimize diffraction efficiency over separate wavelength regions, allowing the grating to diffract light efficiently at multiple wavelength ranges and thereby provide a broader overall spectral response.
- Transmission Diffraction Grating A transmission diffraction grating is an optical component containing a large number of closely spaced parallel grooves or lines that disperse light into its component wavelengths by transmission rather than reflection. When light passes through the grating, interference between the transmitted wavefronts causes different wavelengths to diffract at different angles, producing a spectrum.
Our Diffraction Grating Capability Specifications
Our extensive array of modern grating equipment allows us to produce gratings in a wide range of shapes, sizes, and materials. Our capability specifications are as follows:
- Materials: Fused silica, Borofloat®, Zerodur®, ceramics, aluminum, and more
- Dimensions: 5mm to 100 mm long
- Thickness: ≥ 1mm
- Surface Accuracy: λ/4 typical
- Shape: Square, round, rectangular, or customer-specified
- Grooves/mm: 30 to 3600
- Wavelength Range: UV to mid-IR
- Space Qualified: Currently part of the Mars ROVER ChemCam Spectrometers
Stock and Custom Diffraction Gratings
While there have been many advances in optics technology, the fundamental principles remain the same. Many masters for diffraction gratings in spectrometers, monochromators, and other standardized equipment are still in use. Our stock diffraction gratings feature cost-effective and more efficient production for traditional shapes and sizes, as there is no need to design or tool a new master.
OPCO Solutions can design and fabricate masters for custom ruled diffraction gratings to suit newer equipment or unique designs. With custom-manufactured masters, we create the exact grating design you need and replicate it as often as necessary with an exceptional degree of accuracy and repeatability. Our state-of-the-art rule grating engine allows us to provide original equipment manufacturers and equipment designers with high-efficiency results that boast minimal light scatter, no ghosts, and no periodic errors.
OPCO Solutions welcomes your request for custom-ruled, high-quality plane grating masters with virtually any groove frequency, blaze wavelength, and dual blaze wavelengths.
Applications of Diffraction Gratings
As a leading provider of quality diffraction gratings, OPCO Solutions has experience working with experts in a wide range of industries and applications, including:
- UV-VIS-IR spectroscopy: For solid and liquid measurements in industrial and teaching labs
- Monochromators and spectrographs: For sample analysis in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, and other fields
- Analytical instrumentation: Used in chemical, pharmaceutical, medical, and food processing applications
- Molecular analysis: Including HPLC, UV/VIS, NIR, IR, Raman
- Atomic analysis: Including ICP, Arc/Spark, AA, LIBS
- Telecommunication applications: Including WDM, DWDM, CWDM
- Laser tuning: For tunable lasers in semiconductor applications
- Metrology instruments: For a variety of measurement and calibration applications
OPCO’s Grating Ruling Engine
Most replicated ruled gratings produced today rely on masters created by decades-old ruling engine technology – often more than 30 years ago. Because of our technologically superior mechanical design, replica gratings created from masters ruled on OPCO’s new engine demonstrate high efficiency without the typical cosmetic imperfections seen in many of today’s grating offerings.
After five years in development, OPCO SOLUTIONS has announced its NEXT GENERATION RULING ENGINE for producing diffraction grating masters. This new, state-of-the-art ruling technology will permit us to make high-quality replica gratings from new master rulings more quickly and cost-effectively than traditional processes.
All OPCO SOLUTIONS gratings can be replicated for reflection or transmission onto various glass, metal, ceramic, or polymer substrates. Coating options for these replicas include high-reflectivity coating for reflection gratings or A/R coating for transmission gratings. OPCO’s proven replication process for gratings is repeatable and very cost-effective. Our process ensures grating performance equal to that of the master and consistent from instrument to instrument.
Diffraction Gratings & Optical Product Expertise from OPCO Solutions
The experts at OPCO Solutions will engage with your project to understand your spectrometer requirements and discuss how our replica gratings and assembly services can help you develop a quality, reproducible spectrometer. Our state-of-the-art facility and qualified staff can also support your needs for additional spectrometer components, including prisms, windows, lenses, beam splitters, spherical and toroidal mirrors, and more. As an ITAR-registered facility with comprehensive QA processes, you can expect the highest-quality diffraction gratings and other optical products available anywhere in the world.