Torrent Photonics

Torrent Photonics is a leading U.S.-based manufacturer of precision optical and laser components and assemblies that are designed to meet the exacting requirements of military and defense applications. The company provides a complete photonics supply chain for prime contractors and OEMs, offering an extensive portfolio of COTS products as well as custom engineering services.

With 125,000 square feet of U.S. manufacturing capability and over 20 years of experience, Torrent is a key provider of photonic devices for U.S. DoD programs of record. Their solutions are ideal for a wide range of mission-critical use cases including target acquisition, surveillance, border security and reconnaissance, tactical visual and night vision systems, satellite and UAV sensing, directed energy systems, and more.

Precision Optical Components

Achromatic Doublets

Torrent Photonics’ achromatic doublet lenses are designed to minimize chromatic and spherical aberration by focusing two wavelengths on the same plane. The multi-element design delivers stronger broadband performance than spherical singlets or aspheric lenses, with improved off-axis performance and a focal length that is independent of aperture and operating wavelength.

Aspherized Achromatic Lenses

Torrent’s aspherized achromatic lenses combine the color correction of achromats with the spherical aberration correction of aspheres. A molded polymer aspheric surface is fused to the doublet’s second surface, helping to reduce wavefront errors and increase numerical aperture. The lenses are suited to a wide variety of defense applications including fiber optic focusing or collimation, image relay, and high numerical aperture imaging.

Achromatic Triplets

Torrent Photonics can produce custom achromatic triplets in a range of sizes, including micro triplet lenses. These lenses use a low-index central element between two high-index outer elements to correct aberrations, even for larger fields.

Aspheric Lenses

Torrent Photonics manufactures aspheric lenses for UV, visible and IR requirements using advanced CNC machining and can work with a range of materials including optical glass, silicon, MgF2 and chalcogenide glass. Aspheric lenses can reduce the size and weight of optical systems by replacing multiple spherical lens elements, while also reducing spherical aberrations and supporting improved imaging performance.

More info: Learn how aspheric lenses are made

Cylindrical & Spherical Optics

Glass cylindrical and spherical optics for defense imaging and sensing systems are produced using CNC manufacturing combined with proprietary conventional methods. The company’s tooling library helps reduce total program costs, and Torrent can cater for both prototype and production quantities.

Optical Windows

Torrent Photonics has one of the highest production capacities for optical windows in North America, with the ability to fabricate customized IR, UV and visible windows in circular, square, rectangular and elliptical geometries. These solutions are ideal for protecting a wide range of military and defense equipment, including imaging systems, displays and laser equipment.

Plano Optics

High-precision optical flats, windows and filters are available to suit a broad range of requirements for demanding defense applications. One-sided optical flats can be used as reference surfaces, while double-sided flats can serve as optical windows and test plates. Torrent’s materials selection supports visible, NIR and IR wavelengths, with large-scale production capabilities and precision polishing for high-performance optical systems.

Prisms

Torrent’s expertly-designed custom optical prisms are ideal for defense and surveillance applications such as scopes and NVG systems. Available types and geometries include right-angle, Porro, Dove, corner cube, air-gapped, Pechan, cube, mounted, penta, wedge, rhomboid and roof prisms.

Learn more: Precision Optics for Prototype and Production

Laser Optics & Coatings

Laser Optics

Torrent Photonics’ laser optics are specially designed to withstand the energy and heat given off by high-power and ultrafast laser systems. These solutions are ideal for a wide range of defense applications including targeting, ranging, night vision, communications and directed energy weapon systems. All laser optical components are manufactured in dedicated facilities with Class 1000/100 clean rooms, and Torrent can support requirements from prototype through full-scale production.

Laser Line High Reflectors

Laser line high reflectors with mirror coatings are designed to reflect light efficiently while minimizing scattering and absorption. Torrent offers these reflectors at 99.995% from visible to NIR and 99.9% UV, and works with external institutions to certify laser damage threshold performance.

Harmonic Separators

Harmonic separators are dichroic beamsplitters designed to reflect one wavelength while transmitting another. The front surface features a beamsplitter coating, while the rear surface is AR V-coated for the transmitted wavelength. Torrent’s separators offer high reflectance from both S- and P-polarized light, with wavelength configurations for Nd:YAG laser applications including 1064 nm, 532 nm, 355 nm and 266 nm combinations.

Beamsplitters

Torrent Photonics supplies polarizing and non-polarizing beamsplitters for defense applications with shape options including plate, pellicle, cube, and dichroic. Plate beamsplitters use a coated front surface to control the beam-splitting ratio, and a wedged and AR-coated rear surface helps reduce interference and ghosting. Pellicle beamsplitters provide strong wavefront transmission while preventing ghosting and beam offset, and dichroic beamsplitters can be used to mix or split laser beams by wavelength.

High Laser Damage Threshold Coatings

Torrent’s high laser damage threshold (LDT) anti-reflection coatings ensure high light transmission through optical systems and mitigate ghost effects, especially with multiple surfaces. They can be incorporated with spectral filters and are ideal for defense optics, sensors, and display windows.

Precision Optical Coatings

Torrent Photonics’ comprehensive portfolio of precision optical coating solutions is manufactured in dedicated ITAR-registered and MIL-spec compliant facilities. The extensive inventory includes hundreds of different shapes and sizes, and covers bandpass, edge and color filters for UV, VIS, NIR and SWIR wavelengths.

Learn more: Laser Optics for Defense

Customization & Manufacturing Services

Custom Optical Assemblies

Torrent Photonics provides custom optical, electro-optical and mechanical design for high-precision assemblies, adhering to the strictest quality controls to meet the exacting requirements of military and defense use cases. The company can provide clients with anything from build-to-print drawings through to conceptual design specifications and complete engineering services.

Illuminated Reticles

Torrent’s precision etch and fill / illuminated reticles are manufactured using advanced photolithography patterning processes. The reticles can be produced on B270 or N-BK7 substrates, including windows and prisms, and chemically etched before being filled with black, white or red pigment. They are available with line widths from 0.005 mm to 0.5 mm, and are ideal for fire control optics, weapons sights, scopes, and surveillance and reconnaissance systems.

Semiconductor Wafer Microlithography

Torrent Photonics provides semiconductor wafer microlithography services as part of its comprehensive semiconductor sensor supply chain. Capabilities include active wafer deposition, color resists on wafer and dichroic coatings patterned on wafer, with support for customer-supplied material up to 8 inches.

Image Sensor Modifications

Torrent Photonics provides a comprehensive range of imaging and sensing enhancement services. Specializing in complex cover glass, microlens or Bayer filter removal, as well as filter installation and alignment, Torrent enables OEMs to reengineer standard sensors into powerful, applicationspecific imaging components.

We offer image sensor customization, including removing the cover glass from the image sensor and installing and bonding micropatterned filters directly on to the image plane fabricated in their in-house lithography department.

Filter customizations include pixel-level multispectral filters, RGB or complementary color gel filters, and Stripe and Bayer filters.

Options:

• Cover glass removal
• Microlens removal
• Fiber optic bonding
• Optics installation