Blog

Esco Optics representatives will be attending SPIE OptiFab this week taking place at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center. We enjoy the opportunity to connect with colleagues from around the world in the hub of optics in Rochester, NY. Each year the bright minds in optical manufacturing connect, share and inspire new innovations and procedures that we love being a part of. Hope to see you this week. 

World Space Week came to a close on Tuesday. This year’s theme, Exploring New Worlds in Space, casts an outward, and upward, view—and we’re proud to provide the custom optics that help explorers see further. We’ve enjoyed sharing some of our thoughts, ideas, and innovations with you through the week, and we hope you enjoyed our posts.  We covered a lot of topics between October 4 and October 10, from why we’re geeking out over World Space Week to what it might be like if we never landed on the moon. Ever wonder about sharks with lasers and precision measurements from...

We've covered a lot of topics this during World Space Week, from satellites to telescopes to our commitment to innovation and exploration. For us, there’s one thing that all these topics have in common, and that’s our customers—the individuals who use our products every day and who help us create the new products that will drive our business forward. We serve a wide variety of industries—automotive, biomedical, education, laboratory supplies, defense, aerospace—just to name a few, and we’re always looking to branch our and share what we do. But even as we evolve and grow, we haven’t lost sight of...

Go for the gold You're likely familiar with the reflective gold visor in space helmets. Well, when it comes to gear the astronauts use, it really is gold. The coating is a thin layer of gold applied to a helmets inner visor. Astronauts need it for protection. Why? Because you want to reflect as much harmful infrared radiation as possible from the sun—and gold has extraordinary reflectivity. Additionally, it has excellent reliability and corrosion resistance. We all know that exposure to sunlight is bad for our skin. UV rays can do a lot of damage. The same goes for our...

Throughout our World Space Week series, we’ve talked about satellites, lasers, telescopes, software, and many other applications of our optical systems. We’ve also discussed the years of work and research and development that goes into creating them. Now, we’re turning our lens on a simple optical component that’s used in many of the devices that you use every day. It’s one that you’ve likely never noticed or considered—the retroreflector. Safety firstYou know, that plastic reflector you see on your bike, or the “cats’ eye” embedded in the road, or the shiny elements on your running shoes? They’re actually very interesting  pieces...