Blog

Discover Esco Optics at SPIE Photonics West 2023. With 70+ years of precision optics manufacturing, we’ll be exhibiting in Hall F, Booth #4124 at the Moscone Center Jan. 20-22nd, 2026.

Hear from our CEO, Lee Steneken about Esco leading the charge in precision optics while navigating workforce development, supply chain struggles and the balance of work and family. 

Esco Optics began in the 1955s as a small mail-order telescope kit business and evolved into a trusted supplier of precision optical components. Over the past 70 years, the company has grown into a U.S.-based manufacturer offering both custom and catalog optics across industries such as aerospace, medical, semiconductor, and defense.

This article highlights the importance of flatness in precision optics, beyond just surface quality. Learn how aspect ratio—the relationship between an optic’s size and thickness—directly impacts stability, with high ratios making flatness harder to maintain. It also describes the “potato chip effect,” a common warping deformation in thin optics that can degrade system performance at even nanometer scales.

Esco is always proud to sponsor the WNY optics golf tournament. This year on Esco watering holes players were met with professional comedians on the tee box. Each swing, slice, and sandy stumble was met with commentary so sharp it could cut optical glass.