Protected Aluminum Optical Mirrors
Last Updated: April 1, 2025
Description
Protected aluminum optical mirrors are designed to reflect light across a broad spectral range. They consist of an aluminum layer that is coated with a protective overcoat to enhance durability and reduce tarnishing. This protective layer helps maintain the mirror's reflective properties over time, making them a cost-effective choice for various optical applications.
Working Principle
Protected aluminum mirrors work by reflecting light off their surface, which is coated with aluminum to provide high reflectivity. The protective overcoat, often made from materials like silicon dioxide, serves to prevent oxidation and other environmental damage, thereby preserving the mirror's optical performance. This combination of aluminum and protective coating makes these mirrors particularly useful for applications requiring broad spectral reflectivity and durability.
Applications
Protected aluminum optical mirrors are used in a variety of applications. They are ideal for deflecting broadband light sources and are commonly employed in laser systems, imaging devices, and optical instruments. Specific examples include their use in manufacturing control applications, such as machine vision and metrology, where precision and durability are critical.
Advantages over other Optical Mirrors
Protected aluminum mirrors offer several advantages over other types of optical mirrors. They provide high reflectivity across a broad spectral range, making them versatile for different applications. The protective overcoat enhances their durability and resistance to environmental factors like oxidation, which can be a limitation for other metallic mirrors such as silver or copper. This makes them a more robust option for environments where exposure to air and humidity is a concern.
Limitations
Despite their advantages, protected aluminum mirrors have limitations. They can suffer from inherent absorption losses and may not perform as well in certain UV wavelength ranges when using protective overcoats. Additionally, while the protective layer increases durability, it can still be susceptible to damage if not handled carefully.
Considerations
When considering the use of protected aluminum optical mirrors, several factors should be taken into account. Initial costs can vary depending on the specific coating and customization required. Operating expenses are generally low due to their durability and resistance to environmental damage. However, care must be taken during handling and cleaning to avoid scratching the protective layer. Replacement and maintenance costs are typically lower than those for mirrors without protective coatings, as the protective layer extends the mirror's lifespan by preventing oxidation and other forms of degradation.
from Newport MKS
The UBBR1-1 Broadband Hollow Retroreflector is constructed of three front-surface flat mirrors assembled into a corner cube. A stress-free mounting technique is employed to ensure dimensional stability. This geometry results in a reflected beam that is precisely parallel to the incident beam,... [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Aluminum; Protected Aluminum; Protected Aluminum
- Wavelength Range: 400 to 700
- Mirror Types: Reflector
- Mirror Shape: Hollow Retroreflector
from CeNing Optics Co., Ltd.
Metallic Coatings are very broadband and relatively insensitive to incidence angle. They offer good performance at a low price. Although they are most commonly used, metallic reflective coatings are delicate and require crae during cleaning. They are only recommended for low power applications. The... [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Uncoated (optional feature); Protected Aluminum; Protected Gold; Silver; VIS Enhanced, UV Enhanced
- Wavelength Range: 250 to 800
- Mirror Types: Flat Mirror; Parabolic Mirror (optional feature)
- Diameter/Width: 5 to 76.2
from Newport MKS
The UBBR2.5-1 Broadband Hollow Retroreflector is constructed of three front-surface flat mirrors assembled into a corner cube. A stress-free mounting technique is employed to ensure dimensional stability. This geometry results in a reflected beam that is precisely parallel to the incident beam,... [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Aluminum; Protected Aluminum; Protected Aluminum
- Wavelength Range: 400 to 700
- Mirror Types: Reflector
- Mirror Shape: Hollow Retroreflector
from Newport MKS
The 50328AL Off-Axis Replicated Parabolic Mirror is 1.50 inches in diameter, with an effective focal length of 0.80 inches, and coated with Protected Aluminum. These standard off-axis parabolic mirrors are circular segments from one side of a full paraboloid. The focal point is displaced from the... [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Aluminum; Protected Aluminum; Protected Aluminum
- Focal Length: 20.32
- Mirror Types: Parabolic Mirror
- Wavelength Range: 190 to 2000
from Newport MKS
The 50329AL Off-Axis Replicated Parabolic Mirror is 1.50 inches in diameter, with an effective focal length of 2.00 inches, and coated with Protected Aluminum. These standard off-axis parabolic mirrors are circular segments from one side of a full paraboloid. The focal point is displaced from the... [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Aluminum; Protected Aluminum; Protected Aluminum
- Focal Length: 50.8
- Mirror Types: Parabolic Mirror
- Wavelength Range: 190 to 2000
from Newport MKS
The 50332AL Off-Axis Replicated Parabolic Mirror is 1.50 inches in diameter, with an effective focal length of 8.00 inches, and coated with Protected Aluminum. These standard off-axis parabolic mirrors are circular segments from one side of a full paraboloid. The focal point is displaced from the... [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Aluminum; Protected Aluminum; Protected Aluminum
- Focal Length: 203
- Mirror Types: Parabolic Mirror
- Wavelength Range: 190 to 2000
from ECOPTIK (CHANGCHUN) LTD
BRD Optical provide the round, square and customized shape mirrors with a protected Al coating and UV Enhanced Al coating in various sizes. [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Enhanced Aluminum; Protected Aluminum
- Mirror Shape: Round
- Thickness: 1 to 20
- Mirror Materials: BK7 Glass; Fused Silica; Silica
from Qioptiq
Standard aluminium mirrors for the spectral ranges VIS to IR up to 10 µm or UV to 3 µm, respectively. High reflection within a broad spectral and angle-of-incidence range. Protected by an SiO2 overcoating (RAL)or MgF2 protective overcoating for the UV-region (RAL UV). Low expansion... [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Protected Aluminum
- Mirror Shape: Round
from Rainbow Research Optics, Inc.
Your One-Stop Source for Laser Optics. Highest Damage Threshold (LDT) Coatings. Laser Quality Substrates. Rainbow Research Optics, Inc. (RROI) specializes in manufacturing standard and custom laser optics for laser systems including CO2, Nd:YAG, and Excimer. RROI can produce high damage thresholds... [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Aluminum; Protected Aluminum; Dielectric; Gold; Protected Gold; Silver
- Mirror Shape: Round; Rectangular / Square
- Mirror Types: Laser Mirror
- Mirror Materials: BK7 Glass; Fused Silica; Ultra-violet grade Fused Silica
from Ross Optical Industries
These first-surface elliptical flat mirrors are suitable for applications which require bending/folding light at precise angles with minimum wavefront distortion. Although they are typically offered with protected aluminum mirror coating, other coatings are available on request. Other sizes can be... [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Protected Aluminum
- Diameter/Width: 17.96
- Mirror Types: Flat Mirror
- Thickness: 3.81
from Edmund Optics Inc.
Fused Silica and Zerodur ® Substrates. 1/10 λ Surface Accuracy. Variety of Coating Options Offered. 1/20 λ and 1/4 λ Surface Accuracies Also Offered. TECHSPEC ® 1/10 λ Precision Optical Flat Mirrors are an excellent choice for interferometry, imaging systems,... [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Protected Aluminum
- Diameter/Width: 254
- Mirror Types: Flat Mirror
- Thickness: 38.1
from MOK Optics Co., Ltd.
MOK Optics offer the first surface mirrors in circular, square and special dimensions. First surface mirrors are ideal for applications requiring the mirror to be mounted at 45° in order to produce a 90° bend in the light path. They are widely used for barcode/QR code scanning machine, passport... [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Protected Aluminum
- Wavelength Range: 400 to 1200
- Mirror Types: Flat Mirror
- Thickness: 1 to 5
from Carclo Technical Plastics
Carclo is a world leading supplier of optics, and continual advances in light emitting diode (LED) technology have dictated that we offer a standard range of products to meet the most popular applications. These lenses are available in popular angular divergences and a range of holders that can be... [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Protected Aluminum
- Diameter/Width: 19.7
- Mirror Types: Reflector
- Mirror Shape: Round
from EKSMA OPTICS
Protected Aluminium (Al) Mirrors serve as an economical reflector over entire 300-IR region. Enhanced metallic coatings provide greater reflection across the operating bandwidth. *Laser Induced Damage Threshold results are measured according to ISO 21254-2: 1000-on-1 test procedure. LIDT - 0.25... [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Protected Aluminum
- Diameter/Width: 12.7 to 76.2
- Mirror Types: Flat Mirror; Spherical Mirror
- Thickness: 3 to 12.7
from HG Optronics, Inc.
HG Optronics.,INC. can provide Metal Coated Mirror ，Dielectric Coated Mirror and Dichroic Mirror which are made of substrate such as BK7, Optical glass, Fused Silica, CaF2 and so on. 1.1. What Metallic Coated types can HG OPTRONICS supply?. HG OPTRONICS mainly offers four coating types,... [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Protected Aluminum; Protected Gold; UV Enhanced Aluminum, Protected Aluminum, Protected Silver, Protected Gold
- Mirror Shape: Round
- Wavelength Range: 200 to 2500
- Mirror Materials: BK7 Glass; Fused Silica; Pyrex®
from Tower Optical Corporation
Mirrors have a highly polished surface for reflecting light. The reflecting surface is usually a thin coating of aluminum or silver. Most mirrors for optical applications are called first surface types since the coating is on the front surface thereby eliminating the optical properties of the glass... [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Protected Aluminum
- Diameter/Width: 10 to 50
- Mirror Types: Flat Mirror
- Thickness: 2 to 10
from OptoSigma Corp.
In general, ellipsoid has two focal points and the light passes through one focal point also passes through the other focal point after being reflected by the elliptical surface. By using this principle, if one light source is put on one focal point, it is possible to collect light at the other... [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Protected Aluminum
- Focal Length: 11 to 28
- Mirror Types: Reflector
- Second Focal Length: 78 to 288
from ECOPTIK (CHANGCHUN) LTD
The reflector, as the name suggests, was born to meet people's requirements for light reflection. It is an optical element that uses the law of light reflection. Optical mirrors generally include spherical mirrors/reflectors, flat mirrors and aspheric mirrors. But basically it is through optical... [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Protected Aluminum; Dielectric; High-reflective Coating
- Diameter/Width: 300
- Mirror Types: Reflector; Dielectric, Metallic
- Mirror Shape: Custom
from Qioptiq
Designed for illumination systems. Substrates are fabricated from low expansion material. Aluminum coatings with a protective SiO2 overcoating (RAL). Mirror radii = 2 • f. The matching aspheric lenses are stated in the table. [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Protected Aluminum
- Diameter/Width: 22.4 to 50
- Mirror Types: Spherical Mirror
- Mirror Shape: Round
from Ross Optical Industries
Mirrors can be in a variety of shapes and sizes. Our catalog shows only flat round and square mirrors. Other shapes, sizes and surface curvatures can be made for your special application. [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Protected Aluminum
- Diameter/Width: 10
- Mirror Types: Flat Mirror
- Thickness: 1
from MOK Optics Co., Ltd.
MOK Optics have advanced technologies on coating, we can provide Dielectric Coated Mirror, Metal Coated Mirror, Dichroic Mirror etc. Dielectric Coated Mirror e.g. R >99.8%@1064nm, AOI=0°,Ravg >99%@400-700nm , AOI=45°Metal Coated Mirror ( Protected aluminum mirror, Enhanced aluminum mirror,... [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Enhanced Aluminum; Protected Aluminum; Dielectric; Protected Gold; Silver; Dichroic
- Surface Flatness: λ/8
- Surface Quality: 10-5 Scratch / Dig; 20-10 Scratch / Dig; 40-20 Scratch / Dig; 60-40 Scratch / Dig
from OptoSigma Corp.
TCPA is curved mirror that converts diverging light from a point of light source into parallel light. By making the paraboloid a curved surface, it is possible to retrieve parallel light more efficiently than spherical concave mirror. It is used as a lamp reflector of the lamp house of the... [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Protected Aluminum
- Focal Length: 12.5 to 30
- Mirror Types: Reflector
- Diameter/Width: 100 to 152
from Qioptiq
Designed for imaging systems. No spherical aberration. High-precision flatness. Substrates are fabricated from low expansion material. Aluminum coatings with a protective SiO2 overcoating (RAL). Mirror radii = 2 • f [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Protected Aluminum
- Focal Length: 660
- Mirror Types: Parabolic Mirror
- Diameter/Width: 100
from Ross Optical Industries
Mirrors can be in a variety of shapes and sizes. Our catalog shows only flat round and square mirrors. Other shapes, sizes and surface curvatures can be made for your special application. [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Protected Aluminum
- Diameter/Width: 10
- Mirror Types: Flat Mirror
- Thickness: 1
from OptoSigma Corp.
For an illumination optical system and a simple experiment, it is not requested the low-scratch polishing for a laser. Reflectance and surface flatness is the same as aluminum mirrors (TFA) for a laser. — ¦The dirt on the surface of the mirror can be wiped because the scratch-resistant... [See More]
- Mirror Coatings: Protected Aluminum
- Diameter/Width: 10 to 50
- Mirror Types: Flat Mirror
- Thickness: 3 to 8