The Early Years
1977
COMPANY FOUNDED
Surface Optics Corporation (SOC) incorporated on May 5, 1977, in San Diego, California. Company was founded as an optical measurement and modeling house to subcontract on advanced thermal and RF coating process development programs for General Dynamics.
1979
EXPANDING MEASUREMENT LAB CUSTOMER BASE
Began offering optical properties measurements services for governement and industry. Specialized in bidirectional and hemispherical directional reflectance, transmittance, and emittance measurements.
1983
SOC WINS PRIME CONTRACT FROM BALLISTIC MISSLE DEFENSE, HUNTSVILLE, AL
Surface Optics provided measurements to support the Optical Signature Code (OSC) used by the Ballistic Missile Defense Office in Huntsville AL. The OSC program provides a tool to predict infrared signatures of the national missile defense threat complex, to include targets and decoys in all phases of their trajectory. In fact, the heart of the OSC was authored by founder R.S. Dummer, and retained as a core analytic code for Surface Optics.
1986
FIRST SBIR CONTRACT
Awarded first SBIR contract with the Air Force: “Modeling Techniques for IR Image Interpretation Application”
1990s Product Diversification
1990
SALES OF OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS
Building upon the measurement lab’s expertise, Surface Optics designs and manufactures it’s first instrumentation product, the SOC-100 Hemispherical Directonal Reflectometer. Coupled to the Nicolet FTIR, the SOC‐100 provides polarized, angular reflectance (10‐80 degrees) and transmittance (near normal) over the entire spectral region covered by the FTIR.
1991
SOC COATINGS LAB IS ESTABLISHED
After procuring a large vacuum chamber from General Dynamics, SOC begins designing and developing thermal control coatings for spacecraft antennas. The SOC Coatings Lab would go on to contribute spaceflight hardware coatings to numerous missions. The earliest projects included: Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), BEAST Radio Telescope, Jason-1, CloudSat and WindSat.
1991
SOC PRODUCES ITS FIRST SPECTRAL IMAGING SYSTEM
Surface Optics Corporation’s research and development team recognized the biggest impediment to spectral imaging technology becoming a useful tool was the inability to acquire and process spectral imagery in real-time. To this end, SOC undertook from the beginning to develop hyperspectral imagers with the ability to collect and process entire hyperspectral data cubes (spatial-spatial-spectral data sets) in real time.
1993
FIRST THERMAL CONTROL COATING FOR SPACE APPLICATION
SOC’s first contract for a thermal control coating in space applications was for NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Chandra is sensitive to X-ray sources 100 times fainter than any previous X-ray telescope, enabled by the high angular resolution of its mirrors. Since the Earth’s atmosphere absorbs the vast majority of X-rays, they are not detectable from Earth-based telescopes; therefore space-based telescopes are required to make these observations. Chandra’s mission is ongoing as of 2017.
1996
SURFACE OPTICS ACQUIRES RSDA
R.S. Dummer and Associates (RSDA) was a consulting firm created by a member of SOC’s founding board of directors and added to SOC’s expert resources of our customers.
2000s: Building Capacity and Capability
1998
PURCHASED CURRENT FACILITY IN RANCHO BERNARDO (SAN DIEGO)
Greatly improved our engineering, manufacturing and coatings capabilities. Granted top secret facilities clearance.
2001
NEW FTIR HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGER IS DEVELOPED BY SOC FOR NASA
Due to the fact that it did not have a traditional sample compartment, the SOC-400 had the portability to analyze any surface. This answered the need for an instrument that could measure surfaces that cannot be addressed with a lab bench FTIR. The SOC-400 was awarded a NASA Certificate of Recognition for Technical Innovation.
2002
INSTALLED 3.3 METER DIAMETER VACUUM CHAMBER
This additional chamber to SOC’s Coatings Lab is one of the largest vacuum coating chambers in the country.
2002
SOC-700 VIS/NIR HYPERSPECTRAL CAMERA RELEASED
The SOC-700 is the precursor to the SOC710 Series and was a first of its kind hyperspectral imaging system because of its use of an internal scanning mechanism. Surface Optics also developed a software tool for hyperspectral data analysis and exploitation to package with the SOC-700.
2003
ADVANCES IN MANUFACTURING CAPABILITIES
SOC leases additional facilities to accommodate increased instrument manufacturing needs and implements an associated ISO-9000 quality assurance program.
2004
SURFACE OPTICS WAS AWARDED A PHASE III SBIR FOR PRODUCTION OF A HAND-HELD REFLECTOMETER (SOC-410) FOR ACCEPTANCE TESTS ON NAVAL AIRCRAFT
2005
SOC DELIVERED ITS FIRST DUOCHROME (SWIR/MWIR) MULTISPECTRAL SENSOR
This camera has become a baseline sensor for military threat warning systems.
2007
COATINGS LAB APPLIES UNIQUE COATING TO NASA’S KEPLER TELESCOPE
In order to produce a system with enough sensitivity to detect the smaller, Earth-like planets as they pass in front of their host stars, a very high reflectance coating was required for the Kepler primary mirror. A protected and enhanced silver coating was selected to satisfy this need. The protected silver coating formulation was developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and applied by Surface Optics Corporation using an ion assisted evaporation process.
2009
COATINGS LAB DESIGNS REFLECTIVE THERMAL CONTROL COATING FOR THE INTEGRATED SENSOR IS THE STRUCTURE (ISIS) UNMANNED AIRSHIP
SOC Coatings Lab designs custom 5.5 meter roll-to-roll vacuum chamber to produce reflective thermal control coating to Lockheed Martin for high-altitude reconnaissance and surveillance platform. Required new hull material was a key design feature to the development of the airship and SOC exceeded the manufacturing requirement of the program while successfully meeting spectral and environmental specifications.
Maturation of Technologies for NewSpace & Defense Sector
2013
DEVELOP INNOVATIVE SPECTRALLY TAILORED PAINT FOR LOW OBSERVABLES
Surface Optics creates a thin film based electro-optical signature reduction paint that exceeds specifications and is less costly to manufacture than existing spectral paints on the market.
2014
RELEASE OF NEW AUTOMATED BRDF LAB INSTRUMENT
The SOC 210 is a full-featured goniometric measurement system for characterizing the angular scattering of light from surfaces. The fundamental property measured by the SOC-210 is the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF).
2016
COMPLETED PROTOTYPE MULTISPECTRAL INFRARED IMAGER FOR INDUSTRIAL FLARE MONITORING
Surface Optics Corporation’s innovative multispectral infrared imager is at the core of a new solution for continuous automated flare efficiency monitoring. Infrared spectral imaging can directly measure relative concentrations of unburned hydrocarbons, product of combustion and product of incomplete combustion represented by carbon monoxide.
2021
FACILITY EXPANSION
Construction completed on renovation of facility, expanding to 20,000 square feet, providing the necessary infrastructure for the company to build upon its current momentum and growing sales in the United States and international markets.
2023
MEETING THE NEEDS OF NEWSPACE
Growth of reflectometer and measurement services customer base, driven by growth of semiconductor and NewSpace companies.
2024
LEADERSHIP CHANGES
Chief Financial Officer Marian Geremia assumes the role of Chief Executive Officer as the company embarks on its next phase of growth. Chief Technical Officer Mark Dombrowski step in into the role of President while continuing his duties as CTO. Outgoing CEO Jonathan Dummer remains as Chairman of the Board.
2025
BRAND REFRESH
Release of new company logo, with a fresh, modern look while preserving the core elements that reflect our legacy and expertise in optical properties measurements.