Meller Optics offers sapphire lenses and windows for drones

Meller Optics, Inc. has unveiled custom-fabricated sapphire lenses and windows designed to protect the vision systems and sensors of autonomous unmanned vehicles (AUVs) operating in challenging commercial and military environments.

The Meller Sapphire Optics for Drones boast exceptional durability, with a Mohs 9 hardness rating, enabling resistance to abrasions, fast-moving debris, and extreme conditions, including temperatures up to 1,000°C and pressures of 10,000 psi. These optics also provide high optical clarity, transmitting up to 85% of light from UV to IR, with optional coatings to increase transmission to over 99%.

Available in various shapes and sizes (0.25” to 10” diameter) and customizable surface finishes, the lenses are crafted to meet specific user requirements. The company emphasizes precision manufacturing, achieving flatness of 0.5 fringes of HeNe and parallelism from 20 to 2 arc seconds. Meller Optics is ITAR-registered and DFARS/NIST-compliant, ensuring suitability for sensitive applications.