We engineer polymer optics from prescription through production.
Sandia Optical Systems is the partner engineering teams call before tooling is ordered — DFM in the prescription, closed-loop molding on the floor, and coatings verified per lot. Concept to scale, owned end to end in the United States.
Partners under NDA
We do not publish customer logos. The numbers below are the substantiated version of the same trust signal.
- Years molding optics
- 30+
- Production parts shipped
- 12M+
- Cleanroom class
- ISO 8
- Registered
- ITAR
- US manufactured
- 100%
Design, manufacture, finish — under one roof.
Optical & Mechanical Design
We design the prescription, the mount, and the gating together. Birefringence, draft angles, and sink risk are decided before the tool is cut, not after PPAP.
manufacturePolymer Injection Molding
Six all-electric presses inside an ISO Class 8 cleanroom. Closed-loop hold and pack on every cavity so part-to-part wavefront does not drift across a shift.
finishEvaporative Coatings
AR, mirror, and bandpass stacks deposited in-house, then verified on every lot. Adhesion and shift under thermal cycling are part of the release record.
Programs where polymer optics earn their place.
Automotive
Heat-soak haze and IR-bandshift on ADAS lenses through summer cycles.
Explore market →Driver & Occupant Monitoring
NIR ghosting and stray-light wash at cabin temperatures.
Explore market →Medical Devices
Autoclave-induced birefringence on disposable optics.
Explore market →Tactical & Defense
Form drift and coating shear under recoil and thermal cycling.
Explore market →The cost of finding it after the tool is cut.
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Failure mode
Late-stage optical failure costs a tooling cycle, not a revision.
We engage during prescription review, not after first-article. Re-cutting an insert because a vent witness lands on the clear aperture is the kind of slip we eliminate up front.
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Failure mode
PPAP confirms dimensions, not optical performance.
Calipers do not see contrast loss at 70 °C or NIR ghosting from a coating shift. Our release adds wavefront, MTF, and environmental data so the part is qualified for what the system actually does.
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Failure mode
DFM after the tool is cut is rework, not engineering.
We rate manufacturability against the actual press, the actual resin, and the actual cleanroom — and we say so before steel is ordered. That shortens validation by weeks, sometimes months.
One path, six checkpoints — Sandia owns each one.
- Step 01 Concept Optical and mechanical review with the design team.
- Step 02 DFM Manufacturability scored against press, resin, and coating chamber.
- Step 03 Prototype Diamond-turned masters or short-run inserts for early verification.
- Step 04 Tool Insert cut, sampled, and tuned in the bay that will run the program.
- Step 05 PPAP Dimensional and optical release together — wavefront, MTF, environmentals.
- Step 06 SOP Closed-loop molding plus per-lot coating and metrology records.
Bring us your hardest optical-manufacturing problem.
Send a prescription, a mechanical envelope, or a frustrated email. We will tell you whether polymer is the right answer — and if it is, what it costs to get to SOP.