Optical Prisms
High-Precision Optical Prisms Manufactured to Exacting Standards
At Glass Perfection, we manufacture a wide range of precision optical prisms tailored for use in scientific, industrial, medical, and defence applications. With over 20 years of experience, our optical prisms are trusted by universities, research institutions, and high-tech industries around the world.
Whether you require right-angle prisms, penta prisms, or custom beam-splitter prisms, we deliver components engineered for exceptional performance, durability, and precision.
What Are Optical Prisms?
Optical prisms are transparent components with flat, polished surfaces that refract, reflect, or disperse light. They are widely used in laser systems, spectroscopy, imaging, metrology, fibre optics, and many other optical assemblies. At Glass Perfection, we specialise in custom optical prisms built to meet your precise specifications, with tight tolerances and advanced coatings available.
Our engineers are experienced in producing prisms from a variety of optical materials, including BK7 glass, fused silica, and UV/IR-grade materials, ensuring optimal performance in a wide range of wavelengths and conditions.
Applications of Optical Prisms
Our optical prisms are designed for performance in:
- Laser beam alignment and steering
- Image rotation and inversion
- Interferometry and beam-splitting
- Light dispersion and spectral separation
- Binoculars, telescopes, and periscopes
- Precision measuring and metrology systems
- Military optical targeting and surveillance systems
The Manufacture of Optical Prisms at Glass Perfection
Glass Perfection specialises in the manufacture of optical prisms for high-precision applications across scientific, defence, and industrial sectors. With over 20 years of experience in optical component manufacturing, we deliver consistent quality and reliability from prototype to full-scale production.
Our UK-based manufacturing process includes:
Material Selection: We work with top-grade materials such as BK7, fused silica, UV and IR materials, and more, carefully matched to your wavelength and performance requirements.
Precision Cutting: Using diamond saws and advanced equipment, raw glass blocks are cut into rough prism blanks with tight dimensional accuracy.
Grinding & Lapping: The prism surfaces are shaped to precise angles and dimensions. Our grinding and lapping processes achieve angular tolerances as fine as <10 arc seconds.
Polishing: Each optical surface is polished to sub-wavelength flatness, achieving wavefront accuracies of λ/4 or better, depending on your needs.
Coating (Optional): Anti-reflective, beamsplitter, or high-reflective coatings can be applied in-house, optimised for your wavelength range and application.
Final Inspection & Quality Control: Every prism is thoroughly inspected for dimensional accuracy, surface quality, and optical performance. We provide Certificates of Conformity for all manufactured items.
Whether you need a right-angle prism, penta prism, beam-splitter, or a custom design, we deliver precision optical prisms manufactured to your exact specifications.
Custom Optical Prisms Built for Your Application
Every project is different. That’s why we offer complete custom optical prism design and manufacturing, including:
Material selection based on wavelength and performance needs
Customised coatings (AR, HR, beamsplitter coatings)
Tight dimensional and angular tolerances
Prototype, low-volume, or high-volume production
Certificates of Conformity and rigorous QA testing
Speak to our team about your specifications and let us design an optical prism solution that fits your project.
End-to-End Optical Prism Manufacturing Capabilities
At Glass Perfection, we offer a full end-to-end optical prism manufacturing service, from concept to delivery. Whether you’re developing a new system or refining an existing design, we support your project at every stage:
Design Consultation: Collaborate with our team to define performance goals, tolerances, and geometry.
Prototyping & Testing: Rapid prototypes available to validate your design before committing to production.
Advanced Manufacturing: We use precision grinding, polishing, and coating techniques to achieve outstanding angular accuracy and optical clarity.
Scalable Production: Suitable for R&D, low-volume specialist runs, or ongoing bulk supply contracts.
All manufacturing takes place in our UK facility, ensuring rapid turnaround, tight quality control, and full traceability. Each component is delivered with certification and expert support.
Optical Prisms FAQs
What materials do you use for optical prisms?
We commonly use BK7 glass, fused silica, UV-grade silica, and infrared materials such as germanium and silicon, depending on your wavelength requirements.
Do you offer AR coatings on prisms?
Yes, we offer a full range of anti-reflective, high-reflective, and beamsplitter coatings tailored to your wavelength range.
Can I request a custom-shaped prism?
Absolutely. We specialise in bespoke prism manufacturing, including complex geometries and tight tolerances.
Do you offer design consultation for complex optical prism systems?
Yes. Our experienced team can work directly with your engineers to design or optimise prism components for complex optical systems. We help you identify the ideal geometry, materials, and coatings to achieve the best results.
How are optical prisms manufactured?
Optical prisms are manufactured through a multi-stage process involving cutting, grinding, lapping, polishing, and (if needed) coating. Each stage is carried out to precise optical and angular tolerances to ensure the finished prism performs accurately in its intended application.
Optical Prisms from Glass Perfection
Right-angle prisms
As a beam turner (90 degrees deflection)
As a retro-reflector (180 degrees deflection)
Glass Perfection provide large amounts of right-angle prisms, they are generally used to have two functions:
90 degree deflection occurs at the hypotenuse face. Image viewed through a single right angle prism will be erect but reversed left to right.
The retro-reflection is insensitive to rotate an axis parallel to the roof.
Specifications
| Diameter Tolerence: | +0.1mm |
| Clear Aperture: | > 80% |
| Angle Tolerence: | < 3 Min deviation |
| Surface Flatness: | ^/4@632.8 mm |
| Surface Quality: | 20-10 to 60-40 scratch and dig |
| Bevel: | 0.25mm to 0.5mm |
Material
BK7 grade A optical glass
High purity UV grade fused silica
Coating
Glass Perfection provides varieties of single layer or multi layer anti reflecting coating on optical windows.
High Precision Perpendicularity Right-angle Prisms
Glass Perfection also provide BK7 or fused silica right-angle prism with excellent perpendicularity of ground surface and polished surfaces. Such prisms are useful for high precision optics application, which requires a good ground reference flat.
Dove and Roof Prisms
Dove Prisms
Named after Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, the German physicist who first described their optical properties in the 19th century, Dove prisms are precision optical components designed for image rotation. When light enters the prism and is internally reflected, the image is inverted. If the prism itself is rotated around its longitudinal axis, the image rotates at twice the rate of the prism’s rotation. This unique characteristic makes Dove prisms exceptionally useful in applications requiring precise image alignment and rotation, such as interferometry, optical metrology, and beam rotation systems.
Dove prisms are typically used with collimated light and are highly valued for their simplicity and effectiveness in rotating images without altering the optical path significantly. Glass Perfection manufactures Dove prisms to tight tolerances and high surface quality, ensuring minimal beam deviation and distortion. Our prisms are available in a variety of materials, including BK7, fused silica, or custom optical glasses, and can be supplied with optional anti-reflective (AR) coatings to improve transmission.
Roof Prisms
Roof prisms, also known as Dach prisms (from the German word for “roof”), feature a characteristic 90-degree “roof edge” that splits incoming light and reflects it twice before exiting. This design enables the prism to invert and revert images, making them ideal for applications where maintaining the correct image orientation is critical—most notably in binoculars, spotting scopes, and other optical viewing systems.
Roof prisms are particularly valued for their compact design and ability to produce erect images, which is why they are commonly found in high-end compact optics. However, to achieve maximum performance, roof prisms require extremely precise alignment and surface quality, especially at the roof edge. Glass Perfection offers custom roof prism solutions manufactured with high-precision polish, tight angular tolerances, and optional phase-correction coatings where needed.
Specifications
| Material: | BK Grade A Optical Glass |
| Diameter Tolerence: | +0.0, – 0.2mm |
| Angle Tolerence: | + 3 Arc minute |
| Clear Aperture: | > 80% |
| Flatness: | ^/2 @632.8mm per 25mm |
| Surface Quality: | 20/10 scratch and dig |
| Bevel: | 0.25mm to 0.5mm |
Wedges
Specifications
| Material: | BK Grade A Optical Glass |
| Thickness Tolerance: | +- 0.2mm |
| Diameter Tolerence: | +0.0, – 0.1mm |
| Flatness: | ^/4 @632.8mm |
| Surface Quality: | 20-10 to 60-40 scratch and dig |
| Wedge Angle | +- 1 minute |
| Bevel: | 0.25mm x 45 degree |
Penta Prisms
Penta prisms are a five-sided prism containing two reflecting surfaces at 45 degrees to each other and two reflecting faces perpendicular to the entering and emerging beam.
Penta prisms have two important properties:
- the image is neither inverted nor reversed while deviated by 90 degrees
- it is a constant deflection device, all transmitted rays are deviated by the smae exact 90 degree.
Specifications
| Material: | BK7 Grade A Optical Glass |
| Dimension Tolerance: | +- 0.2mm |
| 90 Degree Deviation Tolerence: | <30 arc seconds |
| Precision Series: | <10 arc seconds |
| Flatness Standard Series: | ^/2@ 632.8nm |
| Reflectivity: | R>95% per face from 630 to 680nm |
| Surface Quality: | 60-40 scratch and dig |
Beamsplitters Penta Prisms
By adding a wedge and with partial reflective coating on surfaces S1, penta prisms can be used as beamsplitter, transmission/reflection ratio of 20/80, 50/50 or others for beamsplitter penta prism is available upon request. (this doesn’t seem to make sense).
Specifications
| Material: | BK7 Grade A Optical Glass |
| Dimension Tolerance: | +- 0.2mm |
| 90 Degree Deviation Tolerence: standard series | <30 arc seconds |
| Precision Series: | <10 arc seconds |
| Flatness Standard Series: | ^/2@ 632.8nm |
| Reflectivity: | R>85% per face from 630 to 680nm |
| Surface Quality: | 60-40 scratch and dig |
Beamsplitter ration transmission/reflection @ 630-680nm. T/R: 20/80 +-5
Ready to start your project or need more information?
Call us on 0330 133 3805
Explore Our Range
We invite you to explore our range of optical components, each designed to serve specific functions and applications:
Click on the links to learn more about each component and its specifications. If you have any questions or require assistance, please contact our team of experts.
At Glass Perfection, we combine advanced technology, expert craftsmanship, and a commitment to quality to deliver solutions that exceed expectations. Contact us today to learn more about how we can support your project.