Optics: II-VI Infrared vs American Photonics

[jetrep]

So far we have purchased all of our mirrors and lenses from II-VI Infrared. We have no experience with other vendors. Has anyone used American Photonics? They have some better pricing so I'm considering using them but want to make sure the lower prices don't impact quality.

 

[krugtech]

I would never use anything but II-VI. It just isn't worth it.

Chris Krug

http://krugtech.com/

Maximum Up-time, Minimum BS

 

[jetrep]

Chris, have you had negative experiences with AP products?

 

[krugtech]

I really can't remember if I used them. I've been doing this for almost 25 years and I pretty much handled every optic out there and I wasn't impressed with anything but II-VI. Laser Power Optics was another favorite but II-VI bought them.

It's like everything else, use cheaper optics, cheaper laser gasses, etc. and the machine slowly looses performance over the years as the good parts are replaced with the cheaper parts.

When it comes to optics and laser gasses, price shopping is a huge mistake.

Try one of AP's lens if you think they're good and maybe a few external mirrors. If you're happy with the performance then maybe try them in the resonator. If AP optics give a 2% performance reduction and you change every optic you could loose a lot of performance. If you change one optic to AP you may not see a difference.

I'll say it again, unless you're one of those people who only expects 2500 watts out of a 3000 watt resonator, do not price shop optics and laser gasses.

Airgas is my vote for the worst gas

Chris Krug

http://krugtech.com/

Maximum Up-time, Minimum BS