Dynasil Corporation Of America Enters Infrared High Efficiency And DLC Coatings Market

Dynasil Corporation of America recently announced its subsidiaries EMF Corporation and Optometrics Corporation have completed their development of the first in a series of Infrared High Efficiency Anti-Reflective (HEAR) thin film coatings for the eight to twelve micron spectral region.

“We are very excited about this collaborative success between our EMF and Optometrics subsidiaries. This milestone positions Dynasil as a premier resource for military, homeland security and commercial IR optical system integrators,” said Peter Sulick, Dynasil’s CEO and President. “The team of experts working on this effort have many years of experience directly related to the optimization of infrared thin film coatings, components and assemblies.”

HEAR thin film coatings are used to maximize the transmission through otherwise low transmission lens and window materials used in this spectral region. Optimizing this performance increases detection sensitivity. These coatings have been designed to withstand environmental conditions including water solubility, abrasion and humidity.   Dynasil estimates the addressable market for this segment of the photonics industry at approximately $100.0 million and growing at a rate of approximately 7.5% CAGR per year.  The company is hoping this multiyear effort will capture a meaningful share of this market.

“Our initial offering of an optical coating which provides < 0.3% average reflection is only the beginning of our developing capabilities planned for the infrared optics market,” said Gary Bishop, Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Dynasil Photonics. “We are leveraging our existing expertise and capacity in optical thin film coatings, while hiring additional key industry talent and making strategic capital investments.  The addition of Diamond Like Carbon (DLC) coatings are also on track to begin before mid-year.  Dynasil anticipates offering a selection of these products direct to end users through its recently launched ecommerce website.”

DLC coatings are applied to the exterior window surface of a lens assembly. When combining both DLC with HEAR coatings on an optic, both lens efficiency optimization and environmental protection are achieved. DLC coatings will exceed the sand-water slurry wiper test required by many military and commercial products designed for air, ground and at sea applications.