Photonics Showcase Newsletter (1/19/2021)

Spectrogon manufactures infrared filters and windows with high transmission, high rejection outside the passband, while maintaining excellent coating uniformity for thermal imaging and gas detection applications such as cryogenically cooled IR detectors and uncooled microbolometers. Our filters and windows range in dimension from Ø6.0 to Ø200.0 mm with dicing capabilities down to as small as 1.0 × 1.0 mm.

The Applied Optics Center has been and continues to be one of the preeminent suppliers of laser blocking and absorbing filters as well as optical assemblies to both the U.S. military and commercial industry. Five 2-meter coating chambers, along with various 1-meter and 1/2-meter chambers, place AOC in a unique position with regard to coating capacity. A wide variety of coatings on various substrates can be designed.

Linear apodizing filters are used to eliminate undesirable intensity variations in optical systems. When inserted in front of a detector, a filter can be used as a soft slit to reduce diffraction patterns, eliminate detector saturation, and obtain a uniform light intensity to the detector. The filters have a constant density in one direction and variable neutral density filtering in the other direction.

Hamamatsu’s new FTIR engine (part number: C15511-01) gives OEMs the power of FTIR spectroscopy in a compact package. This palm-size device contains a small MEMS-based Michelson optical interferometer and a near-infrared detector, and it can be integrated into portable or hand-held FTIR spectrometers. Sensitive to 1100- to 2500-nm wavelengths, the C15511-01 is suitable for a variety of FTIR spectroscopy applications.

Bristol Instruments’ popular 871 system measures laser wavelength at a sustained rate of 1 kHz, the fastest available. It also measures wavelength to an accuracy as high as ±0.0001 nm. By combining proven Fizeau etalon technology with automatic calibration, the most reliable accuracy is ensured for the most meaningful experimental results.