Coating systems for precise and heavy-duty optics
We support you with the ideal coating based on our 20 years of experience in optical coatings for demanding applications such as space and medical technology. In addition to optical properties, other functions such as resistance to environmental conditions, adhesion, scratch resistance, and shape tolerances are taken into account.
We offer:
We design, develop, and qualify optical coatings for your demanding application. We deposit the appropriate coating for your application using PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition), which can be either a single piece or a small series. By means of adapted coating processes, we can coat many small or a few large (up to one meter) parts at the same time.
Metal-dielectric coating systems for highest reflectivity or for light extinction (blackening) are our core competence. In addition to highly reflective, partially transparent, and blackening coating systems, we offer anti-reflective coatings made of inorganic materials. If parts of the component’s surfaces require different properties, e.g., one part of the surface is supposed to be highly reflective and another one is to be blackened, we will be happy to provide a combination of coating and structuring for you.
For more than two decades, Fraunhofer IOF has been developing and manufacturing advanced optical coatings for the space applications. The graphic “Overview of Space Heritage for Optical Coatings” highlights the wide range of missions and use-cases in which our coatings are applied. Our expertise covers development, characterization, qualification, deposition, and application of coatings. This includes high-reflective-, anti-reflective-, black coatings, and filters. These solutions are tailored to meet the demanding requirements of space environments, such as radiation exposure, and long-term stability. Building on this extensive heritage, we support our customers by offering established coatings, adapting them to new specifications, or developing entirely new solutions. In addition, at Fraunhofer IOF, we can fully utilize the entire photonic process chain. This enables us to develop, manufacture, and characterize complex coated optical components and systems all under one roof.
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The research strength of our experts can be seen, among other things, in the contributions to the Fraunhofer IOF Annual Report. Every year, selected research results from the previous year are published in the annual report (archive annual reports). You can find the articles on the developments regarding coatings for space and precision optics from the past years in the following list:
2026
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
before 2020
Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF