High-Performance Metal Optical Components and Systems

SPACEOPTIX GmbH, a Fraunhofer IOF spin-off founded in early 2020, specializes in the engineering, manufacturing, integration, and testing of high-performance metal optical components and systems. These solutions are designed for demanding applications across various sectors, including space, astronomy, science, and industry. Leveraging over 20 years of applied research, SPACEOPTIX offers optical metal mirror components and systems ranging from micro-scale to meter-class. They provide comprehensive support to customers, from initial design to final system integration and testing, whether for dedicated process steps or complex system solutions. Their offerings include customized optical and opto-mechanical solutions tailored to specific customer specifications. They also provide design and engineering services to enhance the manufacturability of optical system solutions, and manufacturing and testing services utilizing high-end equipment. Metal optics offer significant advantages due to their ability to be fabricated in complex shapes, integrate functionalities, and be manufactured in high volumes. Key technologies and capabilities include CNC machining, ultraprecision machining, polishing, testing and metrology, opto-mechanical assemblies, optical mirrors, mirror systems, and specialized optics. The team has a strong heritage in space missions and projects, having contributed to the development and realization of optical components, subsystems, and systems for missions such as DESIS, EnMAP, FLEX, JUICE, RapidEye, Copernicus Sentinel-2, Sentinel-4, and Sentinel-5. They also have experience in astronomy projects like CRIRES+, LUCI 1 and LUCI2, METIS, and PEPSI, and industrial applications such as light-weighted scan mirrors for high-power laser applications and imaging/illumination optics for lithography.