Optics Center Refines Confocal Grinding

The University of Rochester's Center for Optics Manufacturing in New York is testing a prototype conformal optics grinder produced by Nanotechnology Systems of Keene, N.H. The device is the result of a collaboration among the university, Raytheon, Boeing, Rochester Photonics Corp., the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and others.

The computer-controlled grinder can produce precision optical components in a wider variety of shapes for applications such as medical endoscopes and housings for sensor arrays on aerospace and military platforms. The Fraunhofer-Institut für Produktionstechnologie IPT in Aachen and the University of Bremen, both in Germany, have placed orders for the device.