© IC Optical Systems 2000

NEW WEB SITE LAUNCHED DEDICATED TO FABRY-PEROT PRODUCTS

IC Optical Systems Ltd is launching a new web site dedicated to our Fabry-Perot etalon products. Visit the new web site by clicking here or on the logo on the home page, or from the links page. Please let us know what you think!

VLT COLLIMATOR OPTICS DELIVERED

Dr Vic Dhillon of Sheffield University has taken delivery of a multi-element collimator lens assembly for use on the Ultracam instrument on the ESO/VLT telescope. The lens system was manufactured at IC Optical Systems to a design by Tully Peacock.

Stereo HI-1 and HI-2 lenses 

Flight Model lenses, HI-1 and HI-2, made by IC Optical Systems Ltd for Birmingham University ’s contribution to STEREO have been delivered to Dr Chris Eyles. STEREO includes an array of telescopes, all of which use UK detector systems as well as a unique wide angle telescope system, known as the Heliospheric Imager, which will actually view the impact of the solar clouds on Earth. Quoted at a recent RAS meeting 'The idea of using two spacecraft is a novel one, allowing two vantage points to determine the 3-D nature of the Sun and of the clouds it ejects into space' says Dr Eyles,' and the fact that this is a NASA mission in which every imaging instrument uses UK detectors underlines the quality of the UK technical skills in this area.'

FINAL 150MM APERTURE ETALON FOR RUTGERS UNIVERSITY SALT PROJECT DELIVERED

IC Optical Systems Ltd has delivered the final 150mm aperture to Prof Ted Williams for the SALT telescope. See www.physics.rutgers.edu/ast/group-ast.html and www.salt.ac.za/salt/. 

LDSS-2 CAMERA AND COLLIMATOR LENSES DELIVERED

The multi-element collimator and camera lenses, made by IC Optical Systems Ltd for the Carnegie Institution and Durham University , have been delivered. “The LDSS collimator and camera optics arrived safely at Las Campanas and we installed them in LDSS. They're beautiful!” says Alan Uomoto of Carnegie. More details at http://www.ociw.edu/lco/magellan/instruments/LDSS2/.

LARGE APERTURE ETALON FOR THE University of Maryland

IC Optical Systems Ltd is working on a 150mm diameter clear aperture etalon, ET150, for the University of Maryland . The etalon will be used in a tunable filter configuration.

prisms for Contraves and AEOLUS

Contraves Space AG has ordered a suite of high tolerance and high quality coated prisms from IC Optical Systems Ltd for the Aladin Spectrometers which form part of the hardware for the AEOLUS project due for completion in February 2008.

Stereo HI-1 and HI-2 lenses

Isaac Newton Group – William Herschel Telescope lens system

Work on the William Herschel Telescope Slit View Focal Reducer lens system, ordered from IC Optical Systems Ltd, by the Isaac Newton Telescope Group is well under way with all the lenses polished and awaiting coating. The lens system is due for delivery shortly.

LDSS-2 CAMERA AND COLLIMATOR LENS SYSTEMS

IC Optical Systems Ltd has been polishing lens elements for the Camera and Collimator lens systems ordered by the Carnegie Institution in collaboration with Durham University . These lens systems are an upgrade to Low Dispersion Survey Spectrograph or LDSS-2. This instrument excels at obtaining spectra of large numbers of faint objects.

100MM DIAMETER ETALONS FOR OSIRIS

IC Optical Systems Ltd has signed an administrative contract with the IAC, Tenerife, Spain, www.iac.es, to supply two 100mm aperture etalons and two CS100 controllers for the OSIRIS project. http://www.gtc.iac.es/Instrumentation/osiris_s.asp

February 2003

FURTHER 150MM APERTURE ETALON FOR RUTGERS UNIVERSITY SALT PROJECT

STEPPER CHUCK DELIVERED TO EXITECH LTD

IC Optical Systems Ltd have recently delivered to Exitech Ltd a state of the art
Zerodur Stepper Chuck. The chuck, which was polished to have very flat
surfaces and very precise angle tolerances, will be used in Exitech's  157nm
Microstepper for DUV Lithography. For more details visit www.exitech.co.uk.

IC OPTICAL SYSTEMS LTD RECEIVES ORDER FOR LARGE APERTURE ETALONS

Prof Ted Williams, of Rutgers University, has placed an order with IC Optical Systems Ltd for very large aperture etalons and controllers For the Prime Focus Imaging Spectrograph of the SALT telescope project.

The SALT project is a multinational collaboration to build a large telescope in South Africa similar to the Hobby-Eberly Telescope already in existence in West Texas. The project requires two 150mm aperture etalons and controllers.

Manufacturing these etalons is a demanding task. Apart from the usual very flat surfaces the application requires a broad wavelength range and cavity spacings of very much less than 100microns.

This is excellent news for IC Optical Systems Ltd as the order is worth in excess of $300,000. Delivery is expected around the end of the year.

IC OPTICAL SYSTEMS COMPLETES MBO

The management of IC Optical Systems has successfully completed a buy-out from former parent company JDS Uniphase on 15 October 2001.

The management buy-out, led by Managing Director and founder, Terry Dines, was made possible by the global re-alignment program initiated by JDS in May 2001.

'The MBO is good for IC Optical Systems because it gives us the freedom to concentrate on our core customers once again,' says Terry Dines. 'The original management is once again in place and is strengthened by the technical expertise of Chris Pietraszewski in the area of Fabry-Perot interferometry. We see a bright future for our small company in the bespoke optics markets that we have traditionally served.'

Chris Pietraszewski, director and co-owner, has come from the former SDL Queensgate with the ET Series Fabry-Perot etalons and the CS100 controllers. ‘We will be manufacturing the ET Series etalon and CS100 product lines at ICOS’ says Chris, ‘concentrating the manufacturing and sales of these etalons on one site is good for the product, good for ICOS and above all good for our customers’

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