Manufacturing capabilities
Full-stack spectroscopy optics and component manufacturing
From optical design and custom infrared materials to precision coatings, electromechanical systems, and volume production, Specac covers the complete manufacturing chain for spectroscopy OEM components.
What we make
From optical design to repeatable OEM supply
Specac brings together the specialist capabilities needed to design, validate and manufacture spectroscopy-critical components and accessories. From optics and materials to electromechanics, temperature control, final test and packaging, you work with one accountable partner, not a fragmented supplier base.
As part of Specac Group, we can also connect you to additional precision manufacturing capabilities where your project needs them.
Optical design
Transmission, reflectance, and ATR optical systems. Modelled from first principles. Toleranced and validated to your specification.
IR materials & diamond optics
Sourcing and fabrication of all major infrared window and prism materials, including industrial diamond at ATR element sizes.
Coatings, polishing & surface preparation
Surface preparation to defined flatness and roughness requirements, with anti-reflection, protective and chemically resistant coating options.
Precision machining & mounting
CNC-machined metalwork, injection-moulded plastic housings, and optical mounting via direct bonding, brazing, or mechanical sealing.
Electromechanical systems
Motorised stages, electronic drive systems, and optomechanical assemblies. Design to IEC and CE standards as required.
Temperature control
Integrated heater, cooler, and temperature control systems for reaction cells, environmental chambers, and process sampling units.
Hydraulic presses & flow systems
Hydraulic presses for sample preparation (pellet pressing), plus fluid handling design for liquid transmission cells, flow-through sampling systems, and process stream interfaces.
Harsh environment design
Components and assemblies designed for demanding chemical, pressure, process and environmental conditions.
Production transfer, test & packaging
Design for manufacture, assembly, final test and packaging — from prototype quantities through to repeatable OEM supply.
Need something beyond this list?
Our capabilities continue to evolve with our customers’ requirements. Tell us what you are trying to achieve, and we’ll connect you with the right expert to explore how Specac can help.
Speak to an expertCompliance & standards
Designed for the environments your instrument operates in
Specac components are designed with the end-use environment, applicable standards and quality expectations in mind from the earliest specification stage. Whether the solution needs to support laboratory safety, CE-related requirements, chemical resistance, IP-rated protection or repeatable OEM production, we help ensure the design is fit for integration, approval and long-term use.
Regulatory & safety standards
- CE-related design requirements, including Machinery Directive, LVD and EMC
- IEC 61010 laboratory equipment safety
- RoHS and REACH compliance
- ISO 9001 quality management system
- IP-rated enclosures, including IP54, IP65 and IP67 where required
- Quality documentation to support internal review and approval
Real-world operating environments
- Chemical process plants, including corrosive vapours and high humidity
- Food & feed manufacturing QC environments
- Pharmaceutical manufacturing and GMP-compatible designs
- Oil refineries and lubricant analysis labs
- University and government research facilities
- OEM instrument assembly environments
More than manufacturing
Applications engineering, OEM integration, lifecycle partnership
We support analytical solution partners from early application development through system integration, launch and long-term product support. Our role is to help ensure the solution works in the real analytical workflow — not just on the drawing board.
Applications engineering
We bring deep spectroscopy application knowledge across catalysis, oils and lubricants, pharma, polymers and process analytics.
We help partners design the sampling approach around the application — including method development, reference spectra and supporting data where needed.
OEM integration support
We understand how spectroscopy systems are built, integrated and used. Our experts support optical interfaces, beam geometry, aperture constraints and system requirements, helping ensure the component fits the instrument and the workflow from the start.
Lifecycle partnership
Support continues beyond delivery!
We help with application optimisation, troubleshooting, product refinements and evolving requirements over the life of your platform. Many Specac OEM relationships are measured in years, not projects.
Talk to Specac about your method, sample, system or integration challenge.
Optical design in detail
ATR, transmission, and reflectance across all sampling geometries
Specac's optical engineers have designed sampling systems for every major FTIR sampling modality. This is our core expertise!
We design to your instrument's beam geometry. Our optical designs are fully modelled and tolerance-analysed before prototype fabrication, reducing development time and iteration cycles.
ATR accessories
Single-reflection and multi-reflection ATR. Diamond, ZnSe, Ge and Si crystal options.
DRIFTS
Diffuse reflectance with in-situ reaction chambers. High-temperature and high-pressure options.
Transmission cells
Fixed and variable pathlength. Liquid, gas, and solid-film sampling configurations.
Specular reflectance
Variable-angle specular reflectance accessories. Grazing angle, near-normal, and Brewster configurations.
IR optical materials
Covering UV to THz, material sourcing and fabrication
Specac sources and fabricates all major infrared optical materials. This matters to OEM partners because it gives you one accountable supplier, and means Specac engineers understand the optical properties of every material in your accessory.
We also work with industrial diamond, one of only a small number of optics manufacturers globally with this capability at ATR element scale.
Diamond optics capability
Specac fabricates diamond ATR elements at commercial scales. Diamond's exceptional chemical resistance and broad spectral range make it the material of choice for harsh-environment and universal sampling applications, and it's a key differentiator in OEM instrument portfolios.
Technical parameters
Indicative specification ranges
The figures below represent Specac's standard manufacturing capability ranges. Custom specifications outside these ranges are often achievable, contact our engineering team to discuss your requirements.
| Parameter | Standard range | Notes | OEM relevance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Optical | |||
| Spectral range | 0.1 μm (UV) to 1000 μm (THz) | Material-dependent | Full instrument wavelength coverage from one supplier |
| IR window diameter | 5 mm - 100 mm | Custom sizes available | Match any benchtop beam aperture |
| ATR crystal size | 2 × 1 mm to 80 × 10 mm | Includes diamond | Integrate into existing accessory form factor |
| Surface flatness | λ/10 to λ/4 | Application-dependent | Specifiable to your optical tolerance budget |
| Surface roughness (Ra) | <1 nm to <10 nm | Polished surfaces | Affects sensitivity, important for ATR and reflectance |
| Thermal | |||
| Heating range | Ambient to 900°C | Reaction cells | Covers most catalysis and high-temp applications |
| Cooling range | -196°C (LN₂) to ambient | Cryogenic cells | Low-temperature spectroscopy, pharmaceutical |
| Temperature stability | ±0.1°C with PID control | Heated cells | Critical for time-resolved and kinetic studies |
| Pressure | |||
| Maximum gas pressure | Up to 200 bar | Reaction cells | High-pressure catalysis and process conditions |
| Maximum liquid pressure | Up to 100 bar | Flow cells | Process stream and supercritical fluid sampling |
| Production | |||
| Minimum order quantity | 1 (prototype) to 1000+ | Negotiable at volume | Same supplier from prototype to full production scale |
| Lead time (standard product) | 3-6 weeks | Subject to order book | White-label stock programmes available for fast fulfilment |
| Lead time (custom development) | 12-26 weeks | Complexity-dependent | DFM and existing library components reduce this significantly |
Ready to discuss your project?
Tell us what you're building.
We'll tell you what's possible.
Share your requirement, even a rough brief at this stage. A Specac engineer will respond with an honest assessment of feasibility and a suggested approach.