About Meller Optics

Over 100 Years of Excellence

Who we are

1921 – Founded in Providence

Meller Optics was established as Adolf Meller Company in 1921 located in Providence, Rhode Island to serve the jewelry industry, manufacturing hard crystalline materials such as ruby and sapphire and eventually as jewel bearings to the U.S. Government.

Location Location Location

1937 – A New Place

Adolf Meller Company quickly grew out of its valley street location, and moved to Corliss Street in Providence in 1937, persevering through economic hardships of the Great Depression. There, it became Meller Optics.

Innovation

1960s – NASA’s Ruby Rod

In the early 1960’s MIT Labs was attempting to precisely measure the distance from the surface of the earth to the moon for NASA. Meller was asked to build a ruby laser rod, a critical component, as part of the project. This was the pivot point for Meller’s entrance into the precision optics industry. Since then, the Meller name has become synonymous with quality.

New Technology

1970s – Sapphire for Defense

Meller Optics Designed prototype sapphire internal optics for newly developed IR Missile Technology.

Conflict Resolution

1980s – Navigation System Optics

Meller Optics manufactured the windows for the Tomahawk missiles navigation systems, as well as the internal sapphire optics for the stinger missile.

Sapphire Domes

1990s – A New Prototype

Meller Optics was asked to design a prototype sapphire domes for the ASRAAM and SM-2MR Block III (MHIP) Missile. Optics Designed prototype sapphire internal optics for newly developed IR Missile Technology.

Space is the place

2000s – Sapphire Lens Array

In 2000 – Meller Optics produced the Sapphire Lens Array for the Kepler Space Telescope.

360 Degree Vision

2010s – Hyper-Hemisphere

A prototype for the US Navy’s Sapphire Truncated Hyper-Hemispherical Window was made here at Meller Optics.

“…we keep coming back to Meller, simply because…it’s about customer relationship, attentiveness to detail, and attentiveness to our needs.”

~ Chris Johnston, Sierra-Olympic Technologies

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