Tube-mounted beam collimators
A new series of tube-mounted beam collimators are based on an off-axis paraboloid mirror design, providing a performance better than λ/5 p-v at 633-nm wavefront in the center field. The optics have standard aluminum and magnesium fluoride coatings, providing achromatic performance at any wavelength. All optics within the collimator are manufactured with zero expansion glass ceramic, aluminum tube construction with matte black internal walls.
Optical Surfaces, Surrey, England
Piezo-driven steering mirrors
Piezo-driven steering mirrors are designed for image correction applications and offer an alternative to galvo scanners. A new device with an optical deflection range of 6 degrees has been introduced. Features include integrated frictionless flexures to control the mirror trajectory, a single pivot point, angular resolution down to nano-radians and kilohertz range scanning frequencies.
Physik Instruments, Auburn, MA
Automotive/security lenses
The DSL2XX and DSL8XX series lenses were designed for automotive and security applications including occupant sensing, lane tracking, rear-view assist, and adaptive cruise control. Lenses with a diagonal field of view from 54º to 138º, based on calculations on a 1/3-in.-format CCD or CMOS detector, are available. The all-glass and aluminum constructed lenses are offered with optional IR cut-off coatings and filters.
Sunex, Carlsbad, CA
Endoscope inspector
The EndoSpector uses custom-designed optics and video-generated targets to quantitatively assess the function of medical endoscopes. The clinical test device measures endoscope characteristics including image resolution, brightness, and uniformity of illumination. A precision mechanism allows simple adjustments for a variety of viewing angles, lengths, and diameters.
Lighthouse Imaging, Portland, ME
BBO crystals
BBO crystals grown with CZ technology are available as thin as 0.01-mm for use in frequency conversion of ultrafast lasers. The crystals feature improved homogeneity, no inclusion, and fewer defects, and provide lower absorption, higher damage threshold, and better laser performance.
Photop Optics, Fujian, China
Miniature translation stages
The MFA series of motorized miniature translation stages delivers a 25-mm travel range, 100-nm minimum incremental motion, and a unidirectional repeatability of 300 nm. The all-steel stages measure as small as 20 × 45 × 140 mm. Tapped screw holes are arranged for ease of mounting and to permit simple assembly of multi-axis motion systems.
Newport, Irvine, CA
Holographic gratings
Richardson Gratings high-efficiency, blazed, concave holographic diffraction gratings are designed for use in OEM analytical instruments.
Spectra-Physics, Rochester, NY
Barcode-reading software
Barcode-reading software is designed for the company's Sapera Processing, its common API for imaging processing and analysis. The software is designed to automatically locate a barcode, regardless of its orientation, without having to specify a region of interest within an image. All algorithm parameters are automatically computed from the image, so no threshold specification is required.
Coreco Imaging, St. Laurent, Quebec, Canada
White coating
WRC-680 matte white coating from Labsphere is a prepackaged, diffusely reflecting paint for reflectance applications from the UV to the NIR. The non-luminescent, nonspecular coating yields Lambertain reflectance between 95% and 98% from 300 to 1200 nm. Applications include integrating spheres, lamp housings, display backlight reflectors, and optical components.
Pro-Lite Technology, Milton Keynes, England
UV-blocking filter
The UV Guard is a zero-shift UV blocking filter for microdisplay-based projectors. The filter helps increase the lifetime of UV-sensitive components in a light engine by a steep, zero temperature/humidity shift cut-on slope.
Unaxis Optics, Balzers, Liechtenstein
Optic mounts
A line of ultrastable optic mounts includes the Model 9814 top mounts and Model 9816 center mounts. Their retention system optimizes stability while it minimizes wavefront distortion to ensure that the mirrors are truly flat. A top-actuated version is designed for use in compact spaces with limited access.
New Focus, San Jose, CA
Copper-coated fibers
CuBALL optical fibers are coated with a copper-based alloy that allows use at up to 700°C for short periods and 500°C for long times. The fibers can be made in lengths of several kilometers in fiber types such as single-mode, graded index, and step-index large core in UV and IR grades of silica.
Oxford Electronics, Hampshire, England
Imaging camera
The QuantiFIRE scientific-grade CCD imaging camera is thermoelectrically cooled. The CCD measures 21.4 mm diagonally with 2048 × 2048 pixels that are 7.4 µm2, with a 40,000 electron well depth. It has electronic shutter control, manual and automatic white balance, user setting files, and a universal IEEE-1394 interface.
Optronics, Goleta, CA
Ray-tracing software
Version 5.0 of LightTools adds shortcuts that increase its ray trace speed from 4× to 60× or more. It is useful for systems containing many spline surfaces, such as those imported from CAD systems via STEP or IGES format files. It also allows user-written macros to be added to menus.
Optical Research Associates, Pasadena, CA
Piezo actuators
The PL-022, -033, and -055 PICMA-Chip piezo actuators consist of a ceramic-insulated PZT block of 30-µm layers. They have resonant frequency greater than 300 kHz, operating temperature to 300°F, sub-ms response and sub-nm resolution, and are vacuum-compatible to 10-9 hPa.
Physik Instrumente, Auburn, MA
Data-acquisition board
The NanoHarp 250 data-acquisition board for multichannel scaling/photon counting is a short PCI slot card with integrated discriminators. Time bin resolution is 4 ns with up to 256,000 bins available, giving a usable time span of 1.04 ms. The board has multi-stop capability for recording long-lived fluorescence decays with slow excitation rates.
PicoQuant, Berlin, Germany
Numerical controller
The Super 1Nc single-axis numerical controller produces up to 400,000 pulses/s. The device has 30 commands and stores 1 or 10 sets of motion programs. It connects up to eight controllers. It can be used with a variety of industrial processes, including capacitor cutting, computer sheet cutting, and CNC lathes.
Qutbi Digital Centre, Ahmedabad, India
Brushless motors
The Cyber Motor Brushless 3 Phase permanent-magnet motors is a new series of compact, powerful, dynamic, and reliable motors and drives. High peak torque is achieved through overload capcity with minumum thermal resistance.
Process Dynamics, Ahmedabad, India
Optical filters
A triple-notch filter for multilaser-line blocking applications provides simultaneous OD greater than 4 attenuation of the 488-, 532-, and 631-, 640-nm laser lines, while maintaining greater than 90% average transmission outside the notches. It effectively blocks laser lines corresponding to argon-ion, doubled Nd:YAG, and helium-neon lasers. It is designed for use with analytical instruments.
Semrock, Rochester, NY
Beam profiler
The BPS-CO2 beam profiler system provides analysis of CO2 industrial lasers up to 1000 W and beam sizes up to 31 mm (16 mm 1/e2 width). It consists of an antireflection-coated reflecting wedge, ND filters, beam telescope to reduce larger beams, a camera, software, and a computer interface card. It allows users to optimize beams in real time and tune lasers.
Spiricon, Logan, UT
Industrial CO2 lasers
The Firestar f400 and f201 fully integrated laser systems are designed for industrial materials processing, including metal cutting and welding and textile processing. The f400 provides 400 W of power and the f201 provides 200 W. They have a sealed tube design, built-in RF excitation, and integral gas purge.
Synrad, Mukilteo, WA
Oxygen analyzer
An oxygen module for the LaserTrace multigas analyzer is based on cavity-ring-down spectroscopy, which can measure oxygen down to 500 parts per trillion. The analyzer can also detect other species, including H2O, CH4, H2, CO, NH3, H2S, and HF. It is transportable and requires no calibration.
Tiger Optics, Warrington, PA
Pulsed fiber laser
The Model PF1550-30 delivers 1.54-µm light output via a single-mode fiber. Based on erbium-doped fiber technology, the device generates nominally 1-ns pulses at repetition rates between 100 kHz and 1 MHz. The laser produces 1-W average power and 1.2-kW peak power at 1 MHz. The eye-safe laser measures 10 × 10 × 4 in. and weighs 15 lb.
Aculight, Bothell, WA
Scroll vacuum pump
The new SVSL-500B oil-free scroll vacuum pumps utilize a patented scroll design that removes all seals, shafts, and bearings from the gas path and vacuum. With a pumping capacity of 18.4 cfm and base pressure of 0.075 Torr, the air-cooled pumps measure 18.6 (L) × 10.6 (W) × 17.4 in. (H), weigh 116 lb. and use three-phase 208-V/380-V power.
Anest Iwata, Montrose, CA
DC-DC converters
New low-profile DC-DC converters are housed in open-frame, surface-mount packages. Five different models provide single output choices from 1.0 to 5.0 VDC. The products deliver 10 W (AUM and AUD Series), 15 W (AUG Series), 20 W (AUG Series) and 30 W (AUK Series). With heights from 4.2 to 7 mm, depending on model, the units are suited for communications applications.
Astec, Carlsbad, CA
Low-light sensor
The TSL237 light-to-frequency converter combines a silicon photodiode and a current-to-frequency converter of a single CMOS integrated circuit. It responds from 320 to 1050 nm and operates from -25°C to 70°C. It has irradiance responsivity of 2.3 kHz at 524 nm and comes in a 3-pin S package.
Texas Advanced Optoelectronic Solutions, Plano, TX
Laser-diode driver/controller
The PPS-3000 laser-diode driver/controller provides a current output of 0 to 3 A (CW or pulsed) and a compliance voltage of greater than 4 V. It has a TTL-level external pulse input, a rise time of 5 µs, and a display range of 0 to 3 A.
Portable Power Systems, St. Louis, MO
Laser-diode drivers
High-power laser-diode drivers from Laselec are available in both CW (150–300 W) and Quasi-CW (driving up to 40 diode bars), with or without a TEC controller. Low overshoot and ..integrated features are designed to maximize laser-diode lifetime. The drivers are designed for use in R&D labs, diode test benches, and by DPSS-laser manufacturers.
BFi Optilas, Evry, France
Optical parametric amplifier
Opera is a new femtosecond optical parametric amplifier (OPA) that extends the range of Ti:sapphire kH amplifiers from the UV to the mid-IR. The amplifier is available in three versions: the standard Opera tunes from 1150 to 2900 nm, Opera VIS adds output from 400 to 1150 nm, and Opera-UV adds output from greater than 300 to 400 nm. Designed for ultrafast applications, the amplifier can be pumped at 1 or 5 kHz.
Coherent, Santa Clara, CA
CMOS camera system
The new pco.1200 high-speed, 10-bit CMOS camera system utilizes on-board image memory in the camera head (up to 2 GByte), to provide ultrafast recording at 1 GByte/s. Designed for imaging high-speed phenomena, the camera has 1.3 million pixels to provide image capture at 625 frames/s (at 1280 × 1024) and 1330 frames/s (at 640 × 480). A double shot sequence allows the capture of two full-resolution frames with a 100-ns interframe time.
Cooke, Auburn Hills, MI
Metal matrix composite
Aluminum silicon carbide (AlSiC) is a metal-matrix composite suited for optoelectronics housings and lids. The composite enables a tailored coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), offering compatibility with various electronic devices and assemblies. The CTE value of AlSiC can be tuned for specific applications by modifying the Al-metal/SiC-particulate ratio. A high thermal conductivity allows efficient thermal dissipation to prevent bowing of packaging and substrates.
CPS, Chartley, MA
Stop-action camera
The Pantera SA 2M30 stop-action camera has 2-megapixel resolution and a nonrolling shutter to provide high throughput, wide field of vision, and smear-free imaging. Other features include tap-to-tap matching, short programmable exposure time, and low noise. Applications include electronics manufacturing inspection, robotics, industrial metrology, and traffic management.
Dalsa, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
IR module
The 3500 series long-wave IR modules utilize VOx microbolometer technology. The M3500 is a 320 × 240 resolution, uncooled, long-wavelength IR module measuring just over two cubic inches. The E3500 employs user-programmable SDP technology. They are designed for integration into cameras. The series has a 60-Hz video rate and is available with analog and 120-bit digital video.
DRS, Palm Bay, FL
IR illuminators
The Model ALS-20 is a high-output, Class 1 eye-safe IR laser illuminator incorporating an 810-nm laser diode coupled with a proprietary sheet optic. The system utilizes a holographic optical screen to control the beam width. The fully weatherized illuminator is designed for large-area (up to 20 acres) nighttime surveillance applications.
Electrophysics, Fairfield, NJ
Voltage-amplifier modules
The HVA series of low-noise voltage-amplifier modules includes five new models covering a bandwidth range from DC to 500 MHz. The amplifiers have a minimum input noise of 0.9 nV/SQR (Hz) and the gain ranges from 20 to 60 dB, depending on model.
Electro Optical Components, Santa Rosa, CA
Miniature photon-counting detectors
The DM0016C1 is a miniature photon detector designed for plate readers used in chemiluminescence and bioluminescence applications. The unit consists of a photomultiplier, high-voltage supply, and an amplifier/discriminator. Requiring an external +5-V bias, the device is available with a spectral response of 280 to 850 nm.
Electron Tubes, Rockaway, NJ
Thin-film mapping system
The newest generation of the F50 mapping system increases the thickness measurement range tenfold (now 10 nm to 450 µm) and includes refractive-index measurement capabilities. The new hardware allows 89-point mappings in less than one minute. The system is typically used for semiconductor processing applications and is offered as an alternative to wafer mapping systems.
Filmetrics, San Diego, CA
Viewer-module luminance detector
The LDM-9810 is a modularly designed viewer module that, combined with the PD-16VL01 plug-in photometric detector and any optometer, forms a luminance measurement system with a sizable target spot. A wide, achromatically corrected 50-mm lens-aperture objective and focusing feature suppress stray light. Fields of view of 20 minutes, 1º or 6º can be selected.
Gigahertz-Optik, Newburyport, MA
Color-sensor module
The C9303 color-sensor module has been specifically designed for use with the power monitor of RGB-LEDs. The module has a built-in RGB color sensor and provides typical photosensitivity of -14 V/mW (at 620 nm) for red, -20 V/mW (at 540 nm) for green, and -18 V/mW (at 460 nm) for blue. This sensitivity matches the wavelengths of RGB-LEDs used as backlights for TFT-LCDs.
Hamamatsu, Bridgewater, NJ
Optical fiber
SpectroGuide multimode fluoride fiber is made using a proprietary enhanced fiber-manufacturing process to virtually eliminate the water peak at 2940 nm to give the fiber a smooth spectral response from 1500 to 4500 nm. Optimized for the mid-IR window, the fiber can also transmit in the UV, visible, and near-IR. The fiber is designed for spectroscopy applications.
IR Photonics, Montreal, Canada
Optical element
A new optical element creates an output spot in the form of a tophat circle with a 350-µm diameter. The element is designed to accept a collimated Gaussian incident beam of a 10.6-µm CO2 laser with a 120-mm diameter. Applications include microhole drilling and other delicate laser-processing jobs.
Holo-Or, Rehovot, Israel
Telecentric lens
The MVO 0.08× telecentric lens, when coupled to a 2/3-in.-format CCD, offers a 4-in. horizontal field of view. The working distance ranges from 170- to 220-mm, resolution (MTF image space at F5) is better than 45% at 40 line-pairs/mm. The lenses are designed for metrology and machine-vision applications.
Edmund Industrial Optics, Barrington, NJ
IR scope
FlashSight is a shock-resistant, dual-purpose IR scope, suited for both weapon-sight mounting and hand-held IR applications. The scope is based on the Omega camera and uses uncooled IR detector technology. Measuring less than 9 in. in length with a weight of 1.4 lb, the scope can capture up to 30 internally stored digital images. Battery life is more than four hours on four AA batteries.
Indigo Systems, Goleta, CA
Industrial camera
The TM-2016-8, a 2.1-megapixel camera with a 1-in. progressive-scan CCD with LUT, is offered in two versions: CameraLink and LVDS (RS-644). Both versions include 8-bit digital or optional 10-bit linear output, arranged in a 2K × 1K, 16:9 aspect ratio. They are designed for machine-vision applications requiring a wide field of view.
Jai PulNix, Sunnyvale, CA
Programmable delay lines
New 8-bit programmable delay lines are now available. Their circuit structure comprises a series of crossbar switches that selectively route signals either through a time-delay element or through a bypass. Applications include true time-delay signal processors for phased-array antennas, optical time-domain multiplexing, optical clock distribution, and optical buffering within all-optical routers.
Little Optics, Annapolis Junction, MD
Robotic polisher
The AII is a seven-axis aspheric robotic polisher. Its CNC control enables automatic figure control and fast polishing for a variety of geometries. The machine uses Precessions software for corrective and finishing polishing. The software optimizes form-correcting tool-path data based on an error map, which has been computed from design data and metrology information.
LOH, Germantown, WI
Fiberoptic backlight
The UniGlo Optima fiberoptic backlight offers a brightness of better than 30 ft-lambert, depending on panel design and configuration. Optima provides twice the brightness of the company's standard UniGlo fiberoptic panels, with improved light uniformity across the panel. The panels measure as little as 0.013 in. thick, require no inverter, generate no heat or EMI, and can provide a lifetime of more than 100,000 hours.
Lumitex, Doylestown, PA