Rochester, NY--Flat-glass optics manufacturer Sydor Optics has just completed the last stage of a $4.5M investment in equipment targeted to increase capacity and improve upon capabilities for producing wafers, windows, filters, and other plano optics. The investment enabled the company to add 18 jobs as well.
The investment includes 14 new PR Hoffman double-sided grinding and polishing machines, several Zygo and Tropel interferometers, a Haas Mini Mill, and a robotic arm, enabling the company to meet growing customer demand. Sydor Optics president James Sydor cites that the newly acquired robotic arm enables the company to bevel over 6,000 optics per month for a single project.
Applications fueling demand for Sydor Optics include 3D movies, debris shields for high-energy lasers, and wafers for DNA sequencing. Established strong markets for the company include telecom, entertainment, biomedical, military, and R&D.
This phase of Sydor Optics' expansion also includes a significant jump in quality control to measure optics up to 450 mm in diameter. Metrology capabilities, including the Corning Tropel MSP300 interferometer, increases the size of glass wafers they can measure in an unrestrained state up to 300 mm in diameter, allowing for simultaneous measurement of the front and back surfaces and thickness variation in a single measurement. And their new Zygo 18" interferometer measures transmitted wavefront apertures up to 18" to match the size capability of their large double-sided grinders and polishers.
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