If your interest in optics extends to the manufacture of IR optical components, then do I have a video for you. Created by Precitech (Keene, NH) and Vision Research (Wayne, NJ), both business units of AMETEK (Berwyn, PA; AMETEK now also owns Zygo Corp.), in partnership with Levicron (Siegelbach, Germany), a manufacturer of air-bearing spindles, it shows the 5000-rpm diamond-turning of a germanium lens, then of a silicon lens, both in ultra slow motion.
Precitech makes diamond-turning machines, while Vision Research produces high-speed cameras, so this is a natural way for them to highlight both of their products. Although the video is under a minute long, it turns the normally high-speed process of diamond-turning into an unhurried, graceful event.
For more information, and to see an additional video of a brass lenslet being diamond-turned, visit: http://www.precitech.com/
