• Ideas
    • Topics
    • Blog
    • Growth
    • Optical Materials
    • Transmission Curves
  • People
    • Team
    • Careers
    • Watch Now
  • What We Do
    • Camera Modules
    • Engineering
    • SPDT Optics
    • Optical Tooling
    • Replicative Molding
    • Thin Film Coating
    • Precision Machining
    • Clean Room Assembly
    • Integrated Photonics
    • Infrared Optics
    • Microlens Arrays
    • Software Development
    • Optical Metrology
    • Catalog Optics
  • Technologies
    • Consumer
    • Defense & Military
    • Medical
  • About Us
    • History
    • Investors
    • Qualifications
    • Events & Shows
    • Contact Us
  • Request A Quote
  • Ideas
  • People
  • What We Do
  • Topics
    • Defense to Consumer
    • Healthcare
    • Technology
  • Blog
  • Social Media
  • Growth
  • Optical Materials
  • Transmission Curves
  • Team
  • Careers
  • Watch Now
  • Engineering
    • Tool Design
    • DFM
    • Optical Design
    • Moldflow Analysis
  • SPDT Optics
    • Freeform Optics
    • Microlens Arrays
    • Spheres & Aspheres
    • Diffractives
    • SPDT Materials
  • Optical Tooling
  • Replicative Molding
    • Polymer Molding
    • Glass Molding
    • Molded Production Materials
  • Thin Film Coating
    • Thin Film Coating
    • Coating Curves Materials
  • Precision Machining
    • Precision Machining
    • Precision Machining Materials
  • Clean Room Assembly
    • Opto Mechanical
    • Opto Electronic
    • Integrated Photonics
  • Software Development
  • Optical Metrology
  • Catalog Optics
  • New Products
    • Camera Modules
    • Infrared Optics
    • Microlens Arrays
    • Space Optics
    • Integrated Photonics
  • Logo
  • Technologies
  • About Us
  • Request Quote
  • Consumer
    • Driverless Cars
    • Integrated Photonics
    • Robotics
    • Sensors
    • VR/AR
    • Machine Vision
    • Facial Imaging
    • Heads Up Displays
    • Finger Print Scanners
    • Laser Scanners
  • Defense & Military
    • Night Vision Goggles
    • Missile Laser Guides
    • Biometrics
    • Infrared/Thermal Imaging
    • Ordnance Optics
    • Head Mounted Displays
    • 2D/3D Scanners
    • Humvee Lighting
    • Laser Targeting
    • Protective Domes & Windows
    • LiDAR Detection
  • Medical
    • Medical Diagnostics
    • Microfluidics
    • Surgical Components and Systems
    • Medical Sensing
  • History
  • Investors
  • Qualifications
    • Certifications & Registrations
    • Memberships & Affiliations
  • Events & Shows
  • Contact Us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Quote
Search
Logo

Precision Optics

LINE

The optics world is ever evolving

Syntec Optics is an American optical manufacturer of precision optics. Since its inception in 1981, it has grown into what has now become a fully-integrated offering of precision optics manufacturing. Our precision optical solutions include optical components of various geometries, polymer optics, glass optics, diamond turning optics (both prototype and production), optical systems, and optomechanics. Our in-house optical design, optical assembly, and optical coating services make it a complete development solution for customers. To ensure quality, we have excellent metrology and testing setup.

Precision Optics applications are rapidly expanding. They find numerous applications in medical, consumer, defense, and biometrics fields. Therefore, with our innovative approach, Syntec Optics developed high refraction diamond turning technology (HRDT). This technology helps maintain high-level precision in optical elements. Similarly, we also reinvented plastic optics applications and tolerances. As a result, many OEMs use our precision molded plastic optics solutions for their critical applications.

Our manufacturing team selects the most suitable optical materials – polymer or glass, depending on the application. Consequently, the material selection approach helps to achieve desired properties in high-precision optical components. In addition, we produce laser optics, achromatic lenses, infrared optics, and optical prisms. Customers benefit from our precise custom optics solutions.

Imaging optics applications are increasingly using freeform optics. Augmented and virtual reality head-mounted displays greatly benefited from freeform optics. One freeform element replaces several conventional rotationally symmetric elements. As a result, optical engineers can make miniaturized optical devices. Syntec Optics has overcome the challenges in manufacturing such complex surfaces.

Precision Optics Solutions – Vertical Integration and Design for Manufacturability

Syntec Optics is not merely an optical lens manufacturer but a complete high-precision optics solutions provider. It is a significant independent player in the optics and photonics industry. The vertically integrated structure reduces lead time and improves delivery timelines.

Customers reach out to Syntec Optics for their precision optics elements and systems needs. We assist them with the design for manufacturability approach and suggest the best suitable manufacturing method (diamond turning, molding) and materials (polymers, optical-grade glass). After fabrication, the precision optics are coated and assembled depending on the product requirements. If the application demands, the precision machining unit produces optomechanics. All components and systems then go through quality assurance, ensuring everything is as per specifications.

Plastic Optics Lenses

Our deep experience with polymer optics affirms the links between success, collaboration, and integration. These concepts are at the center of how we work. Integration leads to reducing costs while exceeding requirements. Collaboration continuously taps the wisdom of all team members.

Hybrid Glass Optics

Polymer optics offer serious advantages in terms of their lightweight, low cost and high malleability. The key manufacturing techniques of injection molding or diamond turning ensure 100% repeatable levels of precision, levels difficult to achieve using more traditional glass solutions.

Manufacturing Success

The measure of our skill as a custom optics manufacturer is ultimately the success of our customers. Browse to see examples of how Syntec adds value.

Micro Optics

Optical Micro Lenses are often helpful with reducing weight & package size. The component reduction is obtainable with DFMA (assembly) features added to the lens design. Product examples include Imaging (Camera), Illumination, Scanning, Projection, Exploratory or Invasive optical products.

Molded Plastic Optics

Syntec Optics offers deep expertise in both moldings opaque and optical polymers. For over ten years, we have been manufacturing complex custom optical components, such as plastic Plano prisms and additional plastic optics and combining them as required to form complete optoelectronic solutions.

Plastic Optics Materials

Not all polymers are created equal. Also, each type has many grades that affect important characteristics such as flow, purity and environmental durability. Syntec combines and processes different types to achieve your unique goals, and regularly finds breakthroughs with broad applicability.

Tooling & Tolerances

Tooling and optics tolerances are tightly linked since achieving the latter requires the former. We build all tooling in house, including molds to produce lenses as small as 0.5 mm, which requires tolerances of a quarter of a fringe. Tolerances, however, are significantly affected by the overall design and the choice of materials.

Bandpass Filters

Optical Bandpass Filters are used to transmit selective wavelengths of the spectrum while attenuating all other wavelengths. Syntec Optics produces complex optical coatings on plastics. Bandpass filters on the glass are relatively straight forward to produce. Coating design on plastic substrates is complicated.

Anti-Reflective Coating

Syntec Optics has deep expertise in anti-reflective coatings. Anti-reflection coatings are used to reduce reflection, increase transmission and enhance the contrast of your optical systems suppressing residual reflection or eliminating ghost images.

Optical Coating Design

Syntec Optics uses well-established principles to design, optimize and calculate the performance of optical coatings. An optical coating is one or more thin layers of material deposited on an optical component such as a lens or mirror, which alters the way in which the optic reflects and transmits light.

Thin Film Technology

Syntec Optics has developed thin film technology for plastic optical systems. Thin film technology is a process by which very thin layers (nanometers in thickness) are deposited on a substrate. Electronic semiconductor devices and optical coatings are the main applications benefiting from thin film deposition.

Electro Optics Assembly

Synchronizing assembly with your distribution needs is a critical factor in your program’s success. Whether you require one-time or ongoing optical assembly, Syntec Optics can offer a precision electro-optical assembly-line in a cleanroom environment, enabled by skilled technicians supervised by expert engineers.

Optical Systems Design

We develop the best, most cost-effective solutions to today’s optical engineering challenges. These solutions may utilize some of the unique capabilities of plastic such as aspherical surfaces, diffractive surfaces and molded in mechanical features that promote alignment accuracy and economical assembly.

Fresnel Lens

A Fresnel Lens is a lens that uses a series of annular rings of spherical lenses set at various angles to produce a lens with a very short focal length relative to its diameter. The Fresnel lens will also be much thinner (using less material) than its corresponding spherical lens.

Optoelectronics Prism

Syntec Optics was commissioned to build a tool for a prism which would be used in an optoelectronic assembly. During the tool build, our customer decided to change the optical prescriptions of the aspheric surfaces. Such a change can delay the delivery of a tool by weeks.

Optical Assembly

Syntec Optics is your answer for reduced development time and optimum performance of your optical assembly project. Our optical alignment and assembly capabilities include applications like mounting, alignment, beam manipulation and focusing. Efficient optical systems require carefully matched components.

IR Electro Optics Analysis

Customers engage Syntec Optics to conduct optical design development of LWIR lenses. An example is a request for the following specification: 25 mm EFL, f/1 and a FOV. The camera chip size is 640×512 with 17 μm pixels so the diagonal is 13.93 mm, which yields a nominal FOV of ±15.57°.

Diffractive Design of Lens

Customers engage Syntec Optics to conduct diffractive designs. Once the suitable material is determined, the first step of the design investigation is to design a single element. The design is optimized at a single wavelength and aspheric terms are added to both surfaces. The correction with up to 6th order aspheres is quite good.

IR Opto-Mechanics


Syntec develops many designs during its investigation process after the camera applications are reviewed. Material selection is key, germanium (Ge), which has almost twice the index of refraction compared to ZnS (i.e. 4 to 2.2). The two element Ge design provides significant improvement in imaging.

IR Diamond Turned Lens

Many commercial LWIR lenses are currently two-element solutions.Diamond turning is a main component of the manufacturing requirements, although AR coatings are also a critical part of the process. Coating IR materials can be quite challenging and expensive because of the relatively thick layers that are required.

Molding IR Lens

Precision molding of lenses using Chalcogenide glass affords considerably less expensive production cost in large quantities compared to SPDT (single point diamond turning) and a definitive and competitive price-performance ratio. Chalcogenide glass has attractive optical properties over broad IR spectrum.

FAQs

What are precision optics?

Precision optics are optical components of various geometries and materials. They are used in optoelectronics, electro-optics, and optomechanical systems for light imaging, sensing, detection, and transmission applications in different wavelength bands.

How are precision optics manufactured?

Precision optics are manufactured using a number of processes depending on the application and material requirements: plastic injection molding, glass molding, and diamond turning.

What are some examples of precision optics?

Lenses, mirrors, prisms, spheres, aspheres, freeforms, cylinders, domes, wedges, wafers, windows, and microlens arrays are some examples of precision optics.

What are precision optics used for?

Precision optics are used in optical systems for medical (diagnostic imaging, microfluidics, lab-on-a-chip, point-of-care devices), consumer (cameras, AR/VR headsets, LiDAR), defense (aiming, targeting, guides), and biometrics (fingerprint, iris, facial imaging) applications.

What materials are used to manufacture precision optics?

Precision optics are manufactured from polymers, glass, and crystals. Read more about optical materials here.

  • Ideas
  • People
  • What We Do
  • Technologies
  • About Us
  • Terms & Conditions
Events & Shows

SPIE Photonics West 2025
28 Jan – 30 Jan, 2025
Rochester, New York
Booth 143

OFC
01 Apr – 03 Apr, 2025
San Diego, California
Booth TBD

Request A Quote
Sign Up For Our Newsletter
Social Links Social Links Social Links Social Links

The Equal Employment Opportunity Clause required under Executive Order 11246, and the employee notice clause pertaining to employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act, set forth in 29 CFR Part 471 Appendix A to Subpart A, are incorporated by reference in this purchase order. By accepting this purchase order, vendor additionally certifies that, to the extent applicable, this contractor and subcontractor shall abide by the requirements of 41 CFR §§ 60-1.4(a), 60-300.5(a) and 60-741.5(a). These regulations prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin. Moreover, these regulations require that covered prime contractors and subcontractors take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status or disability, that it complies with the authorities cited above, and that it does not maintain segregated facilities or permit its employees to perform services at locations where segregated facilities are maintained, as required by 41 CFR 60-1.8.