BOROFLOAT®, the world’s first borosilicate glass by SCHOTT, is designed to meet demanding performance requirements for optical mirrors, and is now being used for advanced optics all over the globe. This white paper introduces BOROFLOAT®, explains how it is used in the Hobby Eberly Telescope (HET), and describes its exceptional optical and thermal properties.
Optical systems use lenses to focus, collimate, expand, collect, and image light. Ranging from convex to concave, and bestform to aspheric, any lens selection must be made with the utmost consideration for its purpose as well as its required quality. This white paper delivers a review of singlet spherical lens shapes, and guidance on deciding the best lens characteristics for each application.
Within so many diverse optical filtering applications, large format (>100 mm diameter), narrow bandpass filters (NBPF) are required to be used alongside large collection optics in order to facilitate specific and selective analysis of a phenomena or the substance of interest. In each application, the characteristic of the filter is defined by the range and level of wavelengths transmitted/rejected by the filter, the angle of incidence (AOI), environmental conditions, and many other conditions, which makes the successful manufacture of large NBPFs a particular challenge. This white paper addresses each of these challenges, and demonstrates a successful NBPF design solution from Iridian Spectral with a uniformity variation of <0.02%.
Raman spectroscopy plays a huge part in the analysis of materials such as explosives in the field, pharmaceutical ingredients in the lab, and changes in genetic material, proteins, and lipids in clinical settings. Utilizing non-elastic scattering of laser light from a molecule to probe the molecular structure and create a vibrational transition in the sample, a molecular fingerprint is gradually built up. There are multiple wavelength analysis selections that can be used for a wide variety of applications. This application note discusses the benefits of using each wavelength, and presents different applications they are used for.
Edmund Optics offers a large variety of precision parabolic, spherical, and flat mirrors with an array of metallic and dielectric coatings to suit all application requirements in different regions of the spectrum. Standard metallic mirror coatings include protected aluminum, enhanced aluminum, UV enhanced aluminum, DUV enhanced aluminum, bare gold, protected gold, and protected silver. This application note introduces their first and second surface mirrors, enhanced metal coatings, and available custom coatings.
Sensors Unlimited presents the series of superior image quality MicroOLED microdisplays for near-to-eye applications that require high image quality, high definition, high brightness, wide field of view, and optimized power consumption. The MDP01, MDP02, and MDP03 microdisplays are designed on MicroOLED proprietary low voltage technology, and can easily outperform the competition in picture quality, low power consumption, and compactness.
OptoSigma’s MHL high rigidity mirror holder is kinematic with a featured blade spring. The holder’s high rigidity makes the device capable of suppressing the positional shift from shocks or vibrations.
ZYGO offers Super Finishing capabilities that produce extremely smooth surfaces over a wide power spectral density band. They also offer a Super Polishing process capable of producing a surface roughness of less than 0.1 nm over spatial periods ranging from 10 nm to 1 mm.
Gooch & Housego (G&H) offers a comprehensive product line of acousto-optic devices and drivers, all of which are internally designed and manufactured. This broad range of acousto-optic products and services includes crystal growth of lithium niobate (LiNbO3) transducer and tellurium dioxide (TeO2), crystal orientation, cutting and shaping, polishing, anti-reflective (AR) coating, transducer bonding, and packaging. With a tight control on the design and production processes, G&H is able to meet standard and custom OEM designs for a wide variety of applications.
Gooch & Housego offers a range of active and passive fiber optic components and optical modules for use in all-fiber systems. Since 1985, the passive fiber optic group has been an expert in providing fused fiber coupler manufacturing techniques, integration of fiber optic assemblies, and custom packaging of semiconductor devices. The active fiber group has developed pump lasers, DFB & DBR lasers, DFB laser modules, laser controllers, high speed detectors, and high reliability booster erbium-doped fiber amplifiers since the year 2000.
Optics Blazers manufactures Near-Eye Display combiners and other components for optimized display performance and see-through properties. With an integrated manufacturing chain, this company can deliver single reflective surface, multiple reflective surface, free-form, or diffractive combiners. Optics Blazers’ solutions are developed with cost and scalability in mind to serve the competitive consumer electronics market.
SCHOTT Lighting and Imaging delivers fiber optic and LED technologies to help redefine the boundaries of medical innovation, and provide deeper insights in helping medical experts see more of what is relevant to their diagnoses and therapies.
The PURAVIS® eco-friendly glass optical fibers from SCHOTT are designed for outstanding transmission of white light, even for long length applications. This “green” product is manufactured in an entirely environmentally friendly manner, including the entire proprietary manufacturing process, making the fibers automatically compliant with the EU directives RoHS and REACH.
Qioptiq, an Excelitas Technologies® Company, recently introduces the new 1.73x Tube Lens as a widely desired addition to the mag.x system 125. Representing a new class of optical systems that enable microscope-like resolution with wide fields-of-view to support modern high-resolution sensors, the 1.73x Tube Lens makes the mag.x system 125 a perfect match for sensors with the 35 mm camera format.
Invenios LLC, an advanced technology micro-fabrication foundry specializing in glass structuring, micro glass packaging and glass bonding is a world leader in providing consumables and devices for gene sequencing, bio-medical, sensor, electronic and optical applications announced recently that it has successfully completed the acquisition of Varioptic, previously a Business Unit of Parrot Drones SAS for an undisclosed amount.
Qioptiq, an Excelitas Technologies® Company, recently introduced the Fetura+™ Advanced Zoom Lens enabling high speed and reliable optical performance for the machine vision and inspection markets. Fetura+ features a unique linear rail design coupled with precision optics to enable it to travel through the 12.5:1 zoom range in less than one second. Due to this unique design, Fetura+ offers a service life in excess of one million cycles and delivers exacting repeatability in any orientation.
ZC&R Coatings for Optics (ZC&R), a division of Abrisa Technologies, now offers high throughput efficiency Wide Angle, Broad Spectrum Sensor and Laser Scanning Window solutions for the visible 425-675nm (VIS), visible to near infra-red 425-1050nm (VIS-NIR), short wave infrared 700-1800nm (SWIR) and popular laser and LED wavelengths from 405 to 1550nm. Designed for image sensors and scanners these optics are used in industrial 3D metrology, machine vision, automotive obstacle avoidance, security and surveillance, document scanners, 3D scanning, gesture recognition and other digital imaging applications.
LASER COMPONENTS developed a new coating process for so-called triple mirrors that makes it possible to apply this complex layer design in one pass. Coatings for three wavelengths used to have to be manufactured in two passes. The new method not only results in higher specifications, but it also has the additional advantage of a shorter duration of production.
Optics
Optics is an interesting subset of physics. It is the study of light and how it can be used in various industries from measurements to biology as well as photography to navigation. Optics is a fascinating field and we are just beginning to scratch the surface with what we know. One of the most interesting developments in optics is the use of fiber optics in the transmission of data. Light is used to transmit data across long distances and this has proved to be efficient as well as inexpensive.
Light is the fasted trailing particle in the universe and it is radiated from one point to the next in the form of waves. Light in a vacuum can travel at an astonishing 300 million meters per second, a speed that would take it to the moon in just about one second. Optics is primarily concerned with the use of light and how the light can be reflected, refracted, bent or manipulated in just about any way. The unique nature of light gives tremendous benefits in using it in various industries. Optics is no one of the ways where light can be used to store data. It seems that anything electrons have done in the past, light waves are able to do, just able to do it faster. In the beginning copper cables were used to transmit electrical pulses in network data transfer. While at that time it was a breakthrough, it was comparatively slow to the movement of light through fiber optics. Once fiber optics replaced, broad band speeds were achieved. All thanks to optics. The uses of optics can advance further with headway being made in fields of defense as well as medicine. Optics are now being used to return sight to the blind as well as create sight for robots.
