THE ASPHERE ADVANTAGE

The relentless pressure for new optical functions by both government and private industry have greatly increased the importance of aspheres, the Tinsley specialty.

WHY ASPHERES?

Spherical optics can produce aberrations and distortions, undesirable flaws that can be offset by still other spheres, at the expense of added weight and size. The asphere, a non-spherical optical surface, permits new dimensions in optical performance by eliminating aberrations and distortions without added weight and size. Until now, aspheres have had two principal disadvantages: cost and difficulty in replication.

MEETING THE ASPHERE CHALLENGE

Tinsley has overcome the historical disadvantages of aspheres by developing unique and sophisticated automated manufacturing capabilities. With Computer Controlled Optical Surfacing (CCOS), Tinsley manages costs and produces aspheres in production quantities. CCOS dramatically improves polishing efficiency over traditional optical production methods.

THE GROWING RANGE OF ASPHERIC APPLICATIONS

Tinsley’s CCOS technology also permits the utilization of increasingly complex aspheric surfaces for the cost-effective solution of optical problems. Applications for Tinsley aspheres range from tiny lenses used in microlithography to the large 10-meter Keck Telescopes in Hawaii, or the strong lenses that handle the powerful laser pulses in laser fusion. Many military and commercial aircraft are now equipped with Head Up Displays (HUDs) that project essential flight information on cockpit windscreens without impeding the pilot’s view of the landscape. The critical component of the HUD is an aspheric lens that must fit into an extremely restricted space. Tinsley also supplies the aspheres that project the high-resolution images used in flight simulators.
 
Tinsley has worked closely with government agencies, research organizations, and private industry on new applications of precision optics. We are collaborating with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to provide aspheric focus lenses for their experiments in Inertial Confinement Fusion as well as producing an array of optics for the National Ignition Facility (NIF). We are also collaborating with EUV-LLC in the development of new technology for the precision optics required for the next generation of "steppers", the machines that manufacture computer chips.
Increasingly, Tinsley aspheres are being used to solve optical problems in a cost effective and timely way for a myriad of industries and end uses. Now, coupled with the system capabilities of our parent company, SSG Precision Optronics, Inc., Tinsley aspheres will be found in an ever increasing market of government and industrial applications.

APPLICATIONS OF TINSLEY PRECISION OPTICS

Flight Control: Head Up Displays (HUDs), including holographic combiners, for military and commercial aircraft and the space shuttle.

Pilot Training: High-resolution, wide-angle aspheric lenses for simulated combat exercises.
Reconnaissance and Defense: Camera windows, wide-angle camera lenses and FLIRs (Forward-Looking Infrared Lenses).

Space Research and Science: High-resolution camera lenses for unmanned space flights; aspheric mirrors for Hubble Space Telescope correction and modification missions; telescope optics for current satellite missions (including the Cassini orbiter and the Far Infrared Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) and near future satellite missions (including Space InfraRed Telescope Facility (SIRTF) and the QuickBird member of the BALL Global Imaging System (BGIS 2000); aspheric mirror segments for Keck 10-meter Telescopes; aspheric lenses for laser fusion experiments.