What Surface Optics Corporation does

Surface Optics Corporation is a privately held, founder-controlled engineering and manufacturing company headquartered in San Diego, California, founded in 1977 to provide optical property measurement services to the aerospace and defense industry. The company operates three integrated lines of business: (1) scientific instruments including lab bidirectional reflectometers (SOC-210, the only commercially available goniometer extending to LWIR at 0.35-14 μm), hemispherical directional reflectometers (SOC-100 HDR), and the 410 Series of portable handheld reflectometers and emissometers for solar reflectance and thermal emittance measurement; (2) hyperspectral and multispectral imaging systems spanning VNIR (SOC-710 HyCore/OmniCore), MWIR (SOC-750), VNIR-SWIR (SOC-760), real-time multispectral video (LightShift), and dual-band SWIR/MWIR (DuoChrome-SM); and (3) vacuum deposition thin-film coating services including vacuum deposited gold, aluminum, anti-reflection, diamond-like carbon, low-observable/stealth, large-area (up to 5m chambers), roll-to-roll, and spaceflight thermal control coatings, supported by in-house ScatCad and ENSIR first-principles modeling tools. The company serves aerospace, defense, semiconductor, automotive, energy, and research customers worldwide, with a customer roster that includes all major US defense primes (Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Raytheon, L3Harris, General Atomics, Leidos), federal laboratories (Los Alamos, Sandia, MIT Lincoln Lab, Naval Research Lab, RDECOM), NASA/JPL, ESA, and academic institutions globally.

Revenue is generated through four streams: one-time instrument sales (reflectometers, hyperspectral cameras, custom SOC410 configurations), laboratory measurement services with 2-4 week standard lead times, custom vacuum coating services in an AS9100/ISO 9001 certified facility, and rentals of portable reflectometers via an international distributor network. Pricing is quote-based with multi-year contracts typical for government and defense buyers, and the SOC-100 HDR is distributed as an attachment to the Thermo Scientific Nicolet iS50 FTIR Spectrometer under a technology integration partnership. The company maintains ongoing co-development relationships with NIST, the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, and the Naval Research Laboratory on the 410-DHR portable reflectometer, and it sustains SBIR/STTR R&D programs through its electro-optics engineering services arm. Recent product activity includes the March 2026 launches of the 710-HyCore VNIR camera, 710-OmniCore VNIR imaging system, and 710 Lab Tower with translation stage, all accompanied by SpectraCore Capture acquisition software and an SDK supporting C#, C++, and Python.

Name

Surface Optics Corporation

Legal name

Surface Optics Corporation

Website

https://surfaceoptics.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1977

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Surface Optics Corporation is a privately held San Diego-based manufacturer of optical measurement instruments, hyperspectral and multispectral imaging systems, and AS9100-certified vacuum-deposited thin-film coatings, serving aerospace, defense, semiconductor, energy, and research customers worldwide since 1977.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

San Diego

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Scientific Instruments and Hardware Sales: Sale of optical measurement instruments including reflectometers (SOC-100, SOC-210, SOC410 series), hyperspectral cameras (SOC-710 series, SOC-750, SOC-760), and multispectral cameras (LightShift). Products include benchtop laboratory instruments, portable handheld devices, and industrial-grade imaging systems. Revenue generated through direct equipment sales with various configuration options and accessories.
2. Optical Properties Measurement Services: Laboratory services providing reflectance, BRDF, transmittance, solar absorptance, and emittance testing. Services include HDR measurements, emissivity characterization, BSDF/BRDF/BTDF scatter measurements, ASTM compliant testing, and SRI/TSR solar reflectance measurements. Standard lead times of 2-4 weeks with expedited options available.
3. Vacuum Deposition Coatings: Thin film vacuum coating services for aerospace and defense applications including vacuum deposited gold (VDG), aluminum (VDA), anti-reflection coatings, diamond-like carbon (DLC), large area coatings up to 3m, and roll-to-roll coatings. Certified processes for spaceflight hardware with AS9100 quality system.
4. Electro-Optics Engineering Services: Custom engineering services including SBIR/STTR programs, optomechanical design, and full product development from feasibility studies through prototyping and production. Specializing in custom industrial infrared spectroscopy and imaging spectroscopy systems.
5. Instrument Rentals: Rental options for 410 Series reflectometers available in the United States and internationally in countries with Surface Optics distributors. Provides access to measurement capabilities without capital equipment purchase.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Surface Optics Corporation designs, manufactures, and sells scientific optical measurement instruments (lab and portable reflectometers/emissometers, hyperspectral and multispectral imaging cameras) and provides vacuum deposition thin-film coatings for aerospace, defense, and research customers. The company also operates an in-house measurement services laboratory and offers custom electro-optics engineering for SBIR/STTR programs and prototype-to-production system development.

Product overview

Surface Optics Corporation offers a portfolio of advanced optical measurement instruments, spectral imaging systems, and vacuum deposition coating services. The product line comprises three main categories: (1) Lab Reflectometers including the SOC-100 HDR and SOC-210 BDR for precision reflectance measurements; (2) 410 Series Portable Reflectometers and Emissometers (410-DHR, 410-Vis-IR, 410-Solar, 410-Solar-i, ET-10, ET-100, 410-LIDAR) for field and lab solar reflectance and thermal emittance measurements; (3) Spectral Imaging Systems including 710 Series hyperspectral cameras (HyCore and OmniCore), LightShift multispectral video, DuoChrome-SM dual-band imager, SOC-750 MWIR, and SOC-760 VNIR-SWIR systems. The company also provides Optical Properties Measurement Services and Vacuum Deposition Coatings including low observable/stealth, large area, roll-to-roll, DLC, VDG, anti-reflection, VDA, and spaceflight thermal control coatings. Electro-Optics Engineering services support custom system development. Products serve aerospace, defense, semiconductor, automotive, energy, agriculture, and research applications.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• LightShift: Multispectral video camera system that captures and processes spectral data at video rates with customizable sixteen-band filter sets for real-time security surveillance, precision agriculture, medical diagnostics, and industrial process monitoring.
• SOC-710 Series
• SOC-750
• SOC-760

Products and services

• SOC-100 HDR Hemispherical Directional Reflectometer Lab instrument for polarized angular diffuse reflectance measurements from 8° to 80° incident angles in the 2.0 to 25.0 μm spectral range; operates as an attachment to the Thermo Scientific Nicolet iS50 FTIR Spectrometer and is intended for materials research and FTIR-based optical characterization labs.
• SOC-210 Bidirectional Reflectometer Automated BRDF/BTDF measurement system for surfaces, paints, coatings, liquids, and particles from 0.35 to 14 μm; only commercially available goniometer extending to LWIR with complete hemispherical coverage and four goniometric coordinates, configurable with interchangeable source/detector modules.
• 410-DHR Reflectometer Portable infrared reflectance instrument for integrated surface reflectance at two angles (20° and 60°) in the 0.9 to 12 μm spectral range; battery-powered handheld design with touchscreen interface, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command and NIST.
• 410-Vis-IR Reflectometer Combined solar reflectance and thermal emittance portable instrument that integrates ET100 and 410-Solar measurement heads in a single package, covering 335-2500 nm reflectance and 1.5-21 μm emissivity; ASTM E903, E408, C1549, and E1980 compliant.
• 410-Solar Reflectometer Portable handheld solar reflectance instrument measuring specular, diffuse, and total reflectance at near-normal incidence across seven spectral bands from 335-2500 nm; ASTM E903 and C1549 compliant with battery-powered touchscreen operation.
• 410-Solar-i Reflectometer Portable total solar reflectance instrument with larger beam size for increased accuracy on non-uniform surfaces; covers seven discrete spectral bands from 335-2500 nm and is ASTM E903, C1549, and E1980 compliant.
• ET-10 Emissometer Portable emissivity measurement instrument for IR thermography calibration; measures directional thermal emissivity at 20° for 3-5 and 8-12 micron bands, with room-temperature sample operation, fast warm-up, and rapid measurements.
• ET-100 Emissometer Portable total hemispherical emittance instrument measuring directional reflectance from 1.5-21 μm and calculating directional and total hemispherical emissivity; ASTM E408 compliant with six discrete in-band wavelength measurements.
• 410-LIDAR Reflectometer Portable reflectance instrument for LIDAR system characterization at 850 nm, 905 nm, 940 nm, and 1550 nm; simultaneous four-wavelength data collection in 7 seconds with customizable wavelength options available.
• Custom SOC410 Reflectometers Application-specific customization of the 410 Series portable reflectometer platform with custom spectral range, sample port, software interface options, customized filter sets and wavelength configurations, plus automated/remote measurement mounting assistance.
• 710-HyCore VNIR Hyperspectral Camera Next-generation line-scanning hyperspectral camera with 375-1025 nm spectral range, 1.65 nm spectral resolution, 784 spectral channels, and 1500 spatial channels; built around a proprietary spectrograph design with co-engineered optics and sensor, CMOS sensor with USB 3.0 connectivity, and bundled SpectraCore Capture software plus SDK support for C#, C++, and Python.
• 710-OmniCore VNIR Hyperspectral Imaging System Internal scanning hyperspectral imaging system with 375-1025 nm range, 1.65 nm spectral resolution, 784 spectral channels, and 1500 spatial channels; can be deployed as lab benchtop, tripod/boom/tower mounted, or microscope-attached without external scanning hardware, and includes SpectraCore Capture software.
• LightShift Multispectral Video Camera Live multispectral video camera with sixteen customizable spectral bands using a novel plenoptic spectral imaging design; processes spectral data at video rates with real-time automated calibration and spectral correlation algorithm processing across 400-1000 nm VNIR.
• DuoChrome-SM SWIR/MWIR Imager Real-time 2-band SWIR/MWIR imaging system with a 512x512 InSb array at 150 fps and 14-bit depth; spectral range 1.5-5 μm in two bands (1.5-3.0 and 3.5-5.0 μm) with USB and CameraLink interfaces for defense and security imaging applications.
• SOC-750 Midwave Infrared Hyperspectral Imager Military-grade MWIR hyperspectral imaging system covering 2.0-5.0 μm; real-time processing at 11 datacubes per second (256x240x42 bands) at 14-bit resolution, with high-speed InSb array and on-the-fly hyperspectral processing for dynamic scene applications.
• SOC-760 VNIR-SWIR Hyperspectral Imaging System Portable dual-band hyperspectral imaging system covering 400-2500 nm (VNIR to SWIR) with 650 co-registered bands in a single data cube; 2.5 nm VNIR and 5 nm SWIR spectral resolution with cryo-cooler operation (no liquid nitrogen) for lab and ground-based high-resolution applications.
• Optical Properties Measurement Services Contract laboratory testing services for hemispherical directional reflectance, emissivity, BSDF/BRDF/BTDF scatter, transmittance, solar absorptance, and thermal emittance across 0.3-50 μm, with NIST-traceable measurements, ASTM compliant testing, and standard 2-4 week lead times with expedited options.
• Vacuum Deposition Coatings ISO 9001 and AS9100 certified thin-film vacuum coating service for aerospace and defense customers, including low observable/stealth, large area, roll-to-roll, diamond-like carbon (DLC), vacuum deposited gold (VDG), anti-reflection, vacuum deposited aluminum (VDA), and spaceflight thermal control coatings, with chambers up to 5m diameter and in-house measurement verification.
• Electro-Optics Engineering Custom engineering service for industrial infrared spectroscopy and imaging spectroscopy system development, supporting SBIR/STTR programs, optomechanical design, and full product development from feasibility studies through prototyping and production.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 600 units of 410 Series portable reflectometers sold globally
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers31 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature12 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• U.S. Naval Air Systems CommandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with U.S. Naval Air Systems Command in developing the 410-DHR portable reflectometer, with input from Naval Research Lab (NRL) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The product was developed to answer a broad need for portable verification of optical properties of large objects in the field.
• National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVital input in development of 410-DHR reflectometer. SOC instruments and procedures are traceable to NIST standards. NIST traceable calibration coupons available as optional upgrade for 410 Series reflectometers.
• Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with NRL in development of 410-DHR reflectometer for portable optical property verification of large field objects.
• International DistributorsminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNetwork of international distributors for 410 Series reflectometer rentals and sales in countries outside the United States. Extends global market reach for portable measurement products.
• Thermo Fisher ScientificcoreTechnology or IntegrationSOC-100 HDR operates as an attachment to Thermo Scientific Nicolet iS50 FTIR Spectrometer. Partnership for integrated measurement solutions combining SOC reflectometry with FTIR detection technology.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Headwall Photonics: Headwall Photonics designs and manufactures hyperspectral imaging systems covering VNIR, NIR, and SWIR spectral ranges. It directly competes with Surface Optics' SOC-710, SOC-750, and SOC-760 product lines in the same research, remote sensing, defense, and precision agriculture markets.
• Resonon: Resonon produces benchtop and airborne hyperspectral imaging cameras (Pika, Eagle) for research, remote sensing, agriculture, and defense. The product portfolio and target customers closely overlap with Surface Optics' hyperspectral imaging business.
• SPECIM Spectral Imaging: SPECIM (part of Konica Minolta) is a leading manufacturer of hyperspectral cameras spanning VNIR, SWIR, MWIR, and LWIR bands. It is one of the most direct competitors to SOC's hyperspectral and multispectral imaging systems in industrial, research, and defense applications.
• Ocean Insight: Ocean Insight (formerly Ocean Optics) supplies modular spectrometers, hyperspectral imaging systems, and fiber optic measurement instrumentation. Its products overlap with Surface Optics' portable reflectometers and spectral imaging offerings in research and industrial applications.
• Thorlabs: Thorlabs manufactures a broad portfolio of photonics components including optical measurement instruments, cameras, and imaging systems. It is a comparable specialty optics supplier with overlapping customer base in research labs and OEM instrumentation.
• Iridian Spectral Technologies: Iridian Spectral Technologies designs and manufactures thin-film optical coatings and spectral filters for telecom, defense, and analytical instrumentation. Its vacuum-deposited optical coatings and custom filter products overlap directly with Surface Optics' vacuum deposition coatings business.

Broad incumbents

• Bruker Optics: Bruker produces FTIR spectrometers, hyperspectral imaging systems, and analytical instrumentation. It is a much larger incumbent player that overlaps with Surface Optics in FTIR-based reflectometry (the SOC-100 HDR is designed as an attachment to the Thermo Nicolet iS50, with Bruker's FTIR systems serving similar customer workflows).
• HORIBA Scientific: HORIBA Scientific manufactures spectrometers, imaging systems, and optical measurement instruments for research and industrial markets. It is a broader incumbent in the spectroscopy and optical characterization space where Surface Optics competes.
• Teledyne FLIR: Teledyne FLIR is a large incumbent in thermal and hyperspectral imaging, with defense and industrial products covering MWIR/LWIR bands. It serves many of the same defense and government customers as Surface Optics and is a broader competitor in the IR signature and imaging space.
• Viavi Solutions: Viavi Solutions produces optical filters, coatings, and spectral components for aerospace, defense, and commercial applications. It is a larger, publicly-traded incumbent with a comparable thin-film coating portfolio serving defense primes and instrumentation OEMs.

Market position

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/surfaceoptics

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Surface Optics Corporation