The Thin Film Optics Laboratory (hereinafter referred to as the laboratory) of the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, is one of the oldest and most technologically advanced optical component laboratories in China. The laboratory has been 55 years so far, and has made outstanding contributions to the vigorous development of China's optical component technology.

The laboratory's predecessor was the coating group of the 8th Research Laboratory of the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The laboratory was founded in August 1964, and its main function is to provide core optical components for Shenguang devices. The laboratory has undertaken national special projects with great historical significance.

In recent years, the laboratory has been guided by the “13th Five-Year Plan” of the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics to meet the urgently needs of intense laser system and the optoelectronic system in extreme service environments. In order to break through some countries' technical blockade of China, the laboratory is fully committed to the basic research and engineering preparation technology research of thin-film materials. Research Directions include high-power laser thin film components, surface textured films, laser-substance interaction, and laser damage detection.

The laboratory has a combative research team, including 4 researchers and senior engineers, 13 associate researchers and deputy senior engineers, 33 intermediate stuff, and more than 30 graduate students. The research team, led by the development of high-performance optical films, has established a coating machine group and a microstructure manufacturing platform with a variety of different deposition technologies. At the same time, the laboratory has also established a comprehensive test and characterization platform for spectrum, laser damage, optical loss, dispersion, surface shape, nonlinearity, microstructure characterization, and material composition detection. This development has promoted the laser pretreatment technology for enhancing the laser load capacity of laser films and crystal materials, and pioneered the domestic laser pretreatment platform for large-aperture optical components.