Fused Silica is synthetic amorphous silicon dioxide of extremely high purity. This non-crystalline, colorless silica glass combines a low content of inclusions with high refractive index homogeneity, a very low thermal expansion coefficient, and excellent transmittance in the wavelength regime from UV to NIR. As a result, these mirrors will perform better with temperature fluctuations and is ideal for high-energy laser applications due to its high energy damage threshold. For more information, please see our Optical Materials technical note.

Newport's proprietary IBS coating technique enables the SuperMirrors to provide the highest absolute reflectivity available as standard mirrors. IBS is a higher energy coating process in which atoms of the coating material can be packed more tightly. The results are very high reflectivity, resistance to environmental changes, and unmatched performance for intra-cavity mirrors which require high finesse.

Care should be taken to insure that these mirrors remain clean during use to maintain the high reflectivity and performance levels. The only cleaning operation recommended is the removal of dust with a low pressure filtered dry nitrogen nozzle. Cleaning techniques specifically developed for high performance optics may be used by qualified personnel. 100 ppm performance levels cannot be maintained if the optic is cleaned using standard techniques.