Ultrafast Optics for Femtosecond and Picosecond Lasers

Ultrafast lasers place different demands on optics than continuous-wave or nanosecond sources. Short pulses are sensitive to dispersion, high peak power stresses coatings and substrates, and precision processing depends on a flat, well-corrected focal field. This family covers the components you need along an ultrafast beam path: f-theta scan lenses, high laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) lenses and windows, low group delay dispersion (GDD) mirrors, chirped mirrors, and broadband splitters. You might be building a femtosecond micromachining station, a semiconductor process tool, or a research setup for ultrashort pulse delivery. In each case, the catalogue lets you specify optics for the full system instead of sourcing piece by piece.

F-Theta Scan Lenses with Vision Correction

The Achromatic Telecentric F-Theta Lens (TSLA) is designed for 343 nm UV lasers. It provides a flat field, reduced chromatic aberration, and accurate beam positioning across the scan field. It also addresses a common integration problem. When you add a vision system to a laser machining system, the lens has to work at two wavelengths, the process wavelength and the camera wavelength. The TSLA is color-corrected between the two.

You get the usual telecentric advantages, with the beam landing near-normal to the workpiece across the field. You also get accurate vision positioning through the same lens. This is useful for online inspection, where you check the workpiece in place without moving it to an offline station. The wider scan lens range covers both standard and telecentric f-theta designs in fused silica and optical glass. You can compare effective focal length, scan field, input beam diameter, working distance, and mounting thread in the spec table on this page.

High LIDT Lenses and Laser Windows

At femtosecond and picosecond pulse widths, damage threshold often limits optics life more than optical performance does. The high LIDT lenses are offered for ultrafast beam delivery and focusing, with calcium fluoride among the available substrate options. The high LIDT laser windows protect downstream optics and enclosures from debris and back-reflection in material processing cells. You can replace a window as a consumable instead of exposing an expensive scan lens or focusing assembly.

If you need guidance on substrate choice for your wavelength, pulse regime, and fluence, Wavelength Optics can review your application before you place an order.

Dispersion Control: Mirrors and Splitters

Every transmissive element and coating adds group delay dispersion, which broadens ultrashort pulses. The low GDD mirrors let you steer a beam without adding significant dispersion. The chirped mirrors go further and actively compensate for dispersion introduced elsewhere in the system. They are specified as follows:

• Rabs >99.5% for each mirror
• GDD of -40 fs² per mirror
• Clear aperture >80% over diameter
• Designed for AOI 10°
• Suitable for pulses with spectral bandwidth >50 nm FWHM

The source data quotes the reflectance and GDD specifications over different wavelength bands. Confirm the band that applies to your laser with the spec table or with our engineers before you finalize a design. The broadband splitters complete the family for applications where you need to divide an ultrashort pulse while keeping group delay under control. Typical uses include pump-probe experiments, beam monitoring, and multi-beam processing.

Why Buy Through Wavelength Optics USA

Wavelength Optics is the US arm of Wavelength Opto-Electronic, the Singapore manufacturer that designs and produces these components. Ordering through the US entity gives you a local point of contact, quoting in your business hours, and technical consultation on selection. For example, our engineers can help you match a scan lens to your galvo aperture and field size, or work out how many chirped mirror bounces your compressor need