Schott and Edmund Optics partner to improve access to filters...

23 Jun 2020

...and Edmund Optics and Cailabs work together to make reflective beam shaping more widely available.

Optics companies Edmund Optics and Schott have formed a strategic partnership to enable their customers to have access to the polished optical glass filters from Schott, supported by shipping by Edmund Optics.

“We are now working even closer together," commented Marcus Knöbel, Executive Vice President of Schott’s Business Unit Advanced Optics and Samuel Sadoulet, President and COO of Edmund Optics. "This enhanced partnership enables both brands to provide many additional benefits to customers."

The companies, which have been working together for more than 30 years, say jointly that the new partnership “will ensure a globally optimal solution to respond to customer needs, especially for small quantities of customized polished optical glass filters.”

Inquiries for Schott’s range of optical filters can now be more easily processed through Edmund Optics. This expansion will also increase the service profile of Edmund Optics’ German manufacturing facility, known as ITOS, which has had a long-term partnership with Schott for over 20 years.

"This partnership will drive fast and easy access to components using Schott materials in Europe and in a next step in China for both standard products and custom designs for prototype and small volume quantities, as well as high volumes," said Knöbel. Sadoulet added, “We will now be able to offer additional flexible solutions to our customers by applying our leading customer service to an even larger product range."

Under the recent lockdown conditions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the companies officially expanded this partnership on June 17, 2020 with a "virtual handshake." A video of this momentous event can be seen on EO’s website.

EO and Cailabs partner on reflective beam shaping

In a second partnership announcement for EO, France-based technology developer Cailabs, which manufactures various photonics products, has partnered with Edmund Optics to “make reflective laser beam shaping more accessible than ever before.”

For example, the Cailabs’ Canunda Reflective Axicons are now available online exclusively from EO. These devices are off-axis reflective axicons that are manufactured to produce a near-field Bessel beam from incident collimated light.

Axicons generate Bessel beams for glass processing and other high-power laser applications. Their reflective design can handle high energy and eliminate chromatic dispersion, making them compatible with femtosecond ultrafast lasers, such as Ti:sapphire and Yb-doped lasers. Conventional transmissive axicons, on the other hand, suffer from the broadening of ultrafast pulses due to their broad waveband.

Cailabs Canunda Reflective Axicons are available in various dielectric coatings for common laser wavelengths and include a manufacturer's certificate of specification conformity.

EO's global inventory of standard Cailabs Canunda Reflective Axicons can cut the long lead times that are typical of high-power laser optics. The axicon's coating and apex angle can also be customized for a specific application if no standard options meets a user's exact specifications.