Corner Cube Retroreflector (CCR)

Retroreflectors reflect an image or beam back 180° toward its original direction. Prisms achieve this either through total internal reflections (TIR) or specular reflections, depending on whether the reflective faces are coated.

Corner cube prisms are prisms which act as corner reflectors, a type of retroreflectors. The basic operation principle is that there are internal reflections on three mutually orthogonal prism surfaces, leading to a direction of a reflected beam which is nominally parallel to the direction of the incident beam – with the accuracy limited only by the accuracy of the surface orientation of the prism. Precision prisms can offer excellent parallelism of incoming and reflecting beams. It is usually specified as an angular deviation, e.g. < 2 arcseconds.

Our standard corner cubes have very small beam deviation to provide precise reflection of light. We can provide protected metal coatings to reduce phase shifting wavefront aberrations, if needed.

corner cube prisms are available in BK7 Grade A optical glass, Corning fused silica 7980, JGS1 UV grade fused silica, and JGS2 optical grade fused silica.

JGS1 UV grade silica is a high quality optical material with good thermal resistance, and it transmits well in the ultraviolet range. It is essentially free of bubbles and inclusions.  In the visible and UV range, down to approximately 215 nm, it will transmit approximately 90 percent without anti-reflection coatings. Between 215 and 150 nm this drops down to 0 % and light is effectively blocked. 

JGS2 Optical grade silica is similar to JGS1 in optical properties, but larger prisms may include more bubbles and other irregularities. Transmission is about 90 % between 2 μm and 270 nm. This optical glass has a much lower OH concentration (less than 300 ppm).

Can be customized according to your requirements