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Optical and Laser Standards Reference: ISO 10110, ISO 11146, IEC 60825 and More

Optical drawings and laser quality documents reference a lot of standards, and it is easy to cite the wrong one. This guide maps each ISO, IEC, ANSI and MIL standard to its topic so you can find the right reference when writing a specification, auditing a supplier or answering a customer.

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Standard	Topic	What it covers	Who uses it
ISO 10110-1	Optical drawings	General indications and conventions for preparing optical element and system drawings	Optical designers, drafting, suppliers
ISO 10110-2	Material imperfections	Stress birefringence indication and tolerance	Optical designers, incoming inspection
ISO 10110-3	Material imperfections	Bubbles and inclusions in the blank material	Optical designers, glass buyers
ISO 10110-4	Material imperfections	Inhomogeneity and striae of the material	Optical designers, glass buyers
ISO 10110-5	Surface form	Surface form tolerances such as irregularity and power	Optical designers, metrology
ISO 10110-6	Centring	Centring tolerances of lens elements	Optical designers, assembly
ISO 10110-7	Surface imperfections	Surface imperfection tolerances, an alternative to scratch-dig	Optical designers, incoming inspection
ISO 10110-8	Surface texture	Surface texture, roughness and waviness indications	Optical designers, polishing
ISO 10110-9	Surface treatment	Surface treatment and coating indications on drawings	Optical designers, coating suppliers
ISO 10110-10	Drawing data	Table representing data of a lens element	Optical designers, suppliers
ISO 10110-11	Drawing data	Non-toleranced data	Optical designers
ISO 10110-12	Aspheric surfaces	Indications for aspheric surface description	Optical designers, asphere manufacturers
ISO 10110-14	Wavefront	Wavefront deformation tolerance	Optical designers, interferometry
ISO 10110-17	Laser irradiation	Laser irradiation damage threshold indications	Laser optics designers
ISO 9211-1	Optical coatings	Definitions for optical coatings	Coating engineers, buyers
ISO 9211-2	Optical coatings	Optical properties of coatings	Coating engineers
ISO 9211-3	Optical coatings	Environmental durability of coatings	Coating engineers, quality
ISO 9211-4	Optical coatings	Specific test methods for coatings	Coating engineers, quality
ISO 11145	Laser vocabulary	Vocabulary and symbols for lasers and laser-related equipment	Everyone writing specs
ISO 11146-1	Beam measurement	Beam widths, divergence and propagation ratio for stigmatic and simple astigmatic beams	Laser engineers, metrology
ISO 11146-2	Beam measurement	Beam widths, divergence angles and propagation ratios for general astigmatic beams	Laser engineers, metrology
ISO 11146-3	Beam measurement	Intrinsic and geometrical laser beam classification, propagation details	Laser engineers
ISO 21254-1	Damage threshold	Laser-induced damage threshold, definitions and general principles	Laser optics suppliers and buyers
ISO 21254-2	Damage threshold	Determination of laser-induced damage threshold	Test labs, laser optics suppliers
ISO 21254-3	Damage threshold	Assurance of laser power (energy) handling capabilities	Laser optics suppliers and buyers
ISO 21254-4	Damage threshold	Inspection, detection and measurement of damage	Test labs
ISO 14999	Interferometry	Interferometric measurement of optical elements and optical systems	Optical metrology
ISO 12123	Raw optical glass	Specification for raw optical glass	Glass buyers, optical designers
IEC 60825-1	Laser safety	Safety of laser products: classification, requirements and user guidance	Laser manufacturers, safety officers
IEC TR 60825-14	Laser safety	A user's guide to laser product safety	Safety officers, integrators
ISO 11553-1	Laser machine safety	Safety of machinery: laser processing machines, general safety requirements	Machine builders, integrators
ANSI Z136.1	Laser safety (US)	Safe use of lasers, the base US standard behind the laser safety officer role	US laser users, LSOs
MIL-PRF-13830	Surface quality (US)	Optical components for fire control and similar instruments, with the scratch-dig surface quality method	Defense optics suppliers and buyers

This guide names standards and describes their scope in our own words. Clause details, current revisions and limits are in the published standards, so buy or access the current edition before citing a requirement on a drawing or purchase order.

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How to use the guide

Search by topic words such as coating, damage, beam or drawing, or by standard number. The scope column tells you what a standard covers so you can pick the right one for a drawing note or a supplier quality agreement. Export the list to Excel to build a controlled standards register for your quality system.

Search for 10110 to see every part of the optical drawing series
Filter on laser safety to find product and machine standards
Use the who-uses-it column to route standards to the right team
Record the revision you actually hold in your document control

Drawings and surface quality

The ISO 10110 series describes how to specify an optical element on a drawing: material imperfections in parts 2 to 4, surface form, centring, surface imperfections and texture in parts 5 to 8, coatings in part 9, and data tables in parts 10 and 11. Many US suppliers still quote scratch-dig, derived from MIL-PRF-13830, while ISO 10110-7 uses a defect area approach. Your drawing must state which system applies, because grades from the two systems are not interchangeable.

Beams, damage and coatings

ISO 11146 defines how beam width, divergence and the beam propagation ratio M-squared are measured, so two suppliers quoting M-squared are using the same method. ISO 21254 covers laser-induced damage threshold testing and power handling assurance, which matters when you buy mirrors and windows for high-power lasers. ISO 9211 covers definitions, optical properties and durability testing of optical coatings, and is a common reference in coating purchase specifications.

Laser safety standards

IEC 60825-1 sets the classification and requirements for laser products and underpins the class labels (1, 1M, 2, 2M, 3R, 3B, 4) that you see worldwide. ISO 11553-1 addresses the safety of laser processing machines, while ANSI Z136.1 is the base US standard for safe use. A product that satisfies one does not automatically satisfy the others, since they cover different obligations of manufacturer, integrator and user.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is ISO 10110?

ISO 10110 is a multi-part standard that defines how to indicate optical elements and systems on technical drawings. It covers material imperfections, surface form, centring, surface imperfections, texture, coatings, aspheres, wavefront deformation and laser damage threshold indications, so optics suppliers read drawings the same way.

How is scratch-dig different from ISO 10110-7?

Scratch-dig comes from the US military specification MIL-PRF-13830 and grades defects by visual comparison against a standard. ISO 10110-7 specifies tolerances using the actual measured size and count of defects. The two cannot be converted exactly, so state one system clearly on the drawing.

Which standard defines M-squared measurement?

ISO 11146 defines how to measure laser beam widths, divergence angles and the beam propagation ratio, written as M-squared. Using this standard lets a buyer compare a supplier's M-squared claim against their own measurement on equal terms.

Do I need to buy the standards to use this guide?

No, the guide is free and summarises scope only. But clause numbers, limits and test details come from the published documents, so purchase or access the current edition before you write a requirement into a drawing, contract or audit finding.

If your supplier specifications, certificates and inspection results are scattered across ERP attachments and shared drives, we can build a private assistant that finds the governing standard and the evidence for each part. Talk to us about what that would involve.

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