Skip to Content

Innovative
Technology


Momentum's award-winning technology is based on two innovations.  First, we use a laser to heat a chemical etchant and accelerate a reaction with a glass workpiece.  Laser-chemical machining removes material without making physical contact with the glass.  No grinding.  No polishing.   Just an ultra-smooth surface finish.

Second, an in-tool sensor capable of nanometer resolution provides real-time surface measurements.  We use the sensor for closed-loop feedback control of the laser enabling high machining precision and fast material removal. 


10X

COST REDUCTION COMPARED TO 
SEMICONDUCTOR PROCESSING

<0.5um​​
FIGURE ERROR

1000X

HIGHER MATERIAL REMOVAL RATES
THAN LASER ABLATION

<0.25nm​​
RMS SURFACE ROUGHNESS WITH FUSED SILICA

Empowering Innovative Products


The Challenge

Quickly bringing a new optics-enabled product to market is challenging with the high cost of prototyping, the slow turn-around in receiving custom optics, and the challenges of ramping up production to meet the demands of a changing market.


Solution

Momentum Optics can meet your needs using innovative laser-based manufacturing that enables cost-effective, high-quality, super-fast-turnaround optics.

✔ Affordable glass manufacturing

✔ Precision laser glass cutting

✔ Optical coating services

✔ Prototype to scale with full project lifecycle support

✔ Manage project budget with small- or large-scale ordering. Absolutely no minimum order quantities (MOQ).

✔ Custom digital manufacturing UI tools give you full control and rapid turnaround on quotes and ordering.

Radical form factors

We leverage the latest technology to tackle modern challenges.  Freeform optics for heads-up-displays is one example.

Custom Solutions

We have a range of materials enabling quick production for aberration-corrected, imaging optics.  

Rapid Turnaround

We can help you iterate with industry leading delivery.  In some cases, we can turnaround optics in days.  Our solutions will keep you ahead of the curve.


Rapid Delivery

Custom optics have notoriously long lead times.  A two month wait is common especially for challenging optics like freeforms.   However, today's product design cycles are being compressed from 1-2 years to 3-4 months often placing optics on the critical path to market entry.  Now there is a better, faster path forward.  We don't measure delivery time in months.  In many cases, we can deliver precision optics in days.  Ultra-fast.  No Compromises.

Affordable

Custom optics are expensive which places them out of reach for some projects or forces designers to use ultra-conservative designs to avoid iterating on prototypes.   Momentum's digital manufacturing platform and underlying technology overcome the cost/time/performance barrier - we like to think of it as one-offs without the trade-offs. 

Why Glass?

Glass offers numerous advantages compared to plastic materials:

  • Broader Selection.  Materials with a wider range of refractive index and Abbe number
  • Environmental resilience.  More durable and scratch-resistant
  • Temperature tolerance.  Lower coefficient of thermal expansion and less temperature-induced changes to refractive index


Specifications and TolerancesPreferred Glass List

Specifications and Tolerances

Materials

Fused Silica is our go-to material. Schott, CDGM and Corning glass. Zerodur ultra low-expansion ceramic.  

Capabilities

Manufacturing:  Freeforms and highly aspheric surfaces, cylinders, phase masks and plates, lens arrays, diffusers, beam-shaping optics, collimators, and multi-aperture optics 

Laser Processing:  Holes, notches, texturing, scribing of glass, metals, and ceramics.  Through glass vias (TGV) 

Services

Optical and mechanical design.  Part assembly. Custom flat top generators are a core competency.

Diameter

Edge diameter (mechanical diameter) from 2-20 mm.  Clear aperture diameter 0.5-20 mm

Coatings

 AR coatings 250-12000 nm, HR 350-20000 nm of parts 2 mm to 370 mm in diameter.  We can also do custom coatings.

Lead Time

 Accelerated turn around as fast as 5 days for in-stock materials

Manufacturing Tolerances

Property Standard Precision High Precision
Edge Diameter (mm) + 0, - 0.1 + 0, - 0.075 + 0, - 0.05
Center Thickness (mm) ± 0.1 ± 0.075 ± 0.05
Clear Aperture >85% >90% >95%
Radius of Curvature < 0.1% < 0.05% < 0.025%
Irregularity (μm) RMS (profilometer) < ±1 < ±0.5 < ±0.25
Irregularity (μm) PV (profilometer) < ±2 < ±1 < ±0.5
Wedge (mm) < 0.05 < 0.030 < 0.015
Surface Roughness (nm) RMS < 5 < 1 < 0.5 (< 0.25 for fused silica)
Scratch/Dig 60/40 40/20 20/10

Preferred Glass List

We carry the following preferred glass in-stock for rapid manufacturing.  We can support a large number of materials.  If you have a material that you would like to see added to the list, please contact us.

Property Schott Equivalent CDGM Equivalent Corning Equivalent
Fused Silica: 7980 Standard (O, F) - JGS1 Standard 7980 Standard O,F
Fused Silica: JGS1 Standard - JGS1 Standard 7980 Standard O, F
N-BK7, H-K9L N-BK7 H-K9L -
N-SF11, H-ZF13 N-SF11 H-ZF13 -
N-SF6, H-ZF7LA N-SF6 H-ZF7LA -
Zerodur Zerodur - -
D263 D263 - -
Borofloat 33 Borofloat 33 - 7740
*More materials added monthly