One of the ways Omega stands out is in our approach to customer support (and fixing problems). Whether it’s an idea scrawled on a stray sheet of paper at a trade show, or a rough concept emailed to us through our website, the approach we take is personal interest, and a desire to solve a problem.
One case in point is a recent order for UV filters.
The customer bought one of our older parts that had made its way to an online auction. The customer supplied the data and a curve and were in a hurry to receive parts. Omega responded quickly. We booked the order in early November and shipped on December 23 so the customer could test Omega's product during the final week of the year. Unfortunately, the results were not an exact match to the part on hand from the auction. The customer indicated the new parts were not as good. Omega QC responded quickly and advised them to return the new parts and the auction part for serialization and characterization.
Back at Omega...
As he was generating the detailed transmission and blocking specifications for the returned filters, the Omega engineer had a thought. The recently provided filters have around 40nm between their 15% absolute transmission points. To provide consistent transmission performance at both 220nm and 265nm, the passband would have to be made wider. Doing this, however, would adversely impact the blocking slope. The original auction part hits OD3 nearly 50nm further from the band than the production parts. The customer would get a better signal to noise if instead of making a single wide filter that encompassed 220, 254, and 265, we made 2 narrower bandpasses, one centered at 235 and one centered at 260. This would give high transmission at the wavelengths you need and improve the out-of-band blocking performance.
After sending the customer parts with the revised design, the customer's response was positive-
You might be on to something. I love the blocking I am getting with the new filters you guys sent. I get much better UVAB and visible rejection than some industry-leading filters. I am in a bit of a holding pattern now as I get the product into test at partners as this will better dictate the transmission requirements. My hunch, though, is that you are on the right track: cake+eat = high trasmission+high blocking.
Not only had Omega quickly responded to the initial inquiry, it suggested a better solution than the customer would have come up with on their own- maximizing transmission where they needed it, and not where they didn't.
The customer response: “In a time where it is hard to get good customer service, Omega has been great. Thank you.”
Are you struggling to get the best signal-to-noise out of your system? Speak with one of our engineers today!