The CGA has partnered with the ANU Laser Physics Centre (LPC) to establish a facility for high-quality optical coating production and research. The core equipment, a large-chamber ion beam sputtering coating deposition system, was formerly located at CSIRO Lindfield where it had been used to produced critical high-quality optics for gravitational wave observatories around the world. It is now operated at ANU for the Australian National Fabrication Facility network.

The coater is equipped with an ellipsometic optical monitoring system for precision thickness control of the grown coatings. Post-deposition annealing can be performed for large optics up to 34 cm in diameter (corresponding to LIGO test masses) in vacuum, inert atmospheres, or air. The facility is equipped with several state-of-the-art inspection devices for coating properties, such as ellipsometers, photospectrometers, and precision absorption, transmission & reflection measurement testbeds.