Autumn is almost here and with that, hunting season. Hunting is so popular in my state that it is a non-official holiday where school is “canceled” and congress gets the day off. I’m not sure if that happens elsewhere but it is fair to say that hunting is a big part...
A ray set is a optical model showing the path of millions of rays of light existing a source such as an LED
Last week, we announced the launch of a free lens search tool for optical engineers. It is available at www.opticsforhire.com/lens-search The searchable database allows engineers working in robotics, machine vision, industrial, and security industries...
Spectrophotometers are an essential analytical tool used in many disciplines including biology research, chemical and clinical labs, medical imaging and biomarker testing. They are used to detect, identify, and quantify matters in solution, including DNA,...
Diffractive beam splitters A diffractive beam splitter is a diffractive optical element (DOE) used to split a single collimated laser beam into several beams with the same optical characteristics as the original beam. Beams are usually separated into 1D or 2D arrays...
Selecting the right lens manufacturing vendor is a multi step process. To start, you will need detailed production drawings to ensure the vendor understands what you require and the tolerances involved.. As you get quotes, you may find qualified suppliers with good...
Introduction Optical invariants serve as invaluable mathematical representations encapsulating various optical parameters within an optical system. Despite the dynamic nature of optical components, these invariants remain constant, providing a stable foundation amidst...
There are two primary methods of image formation in lens design. Perspective projection (F-Tan Theta lenses also called Rectilinear or Orthoscopic). Equidistant projection (F-Theta lenses also called Equiangular) The Perspective projection method is most often used...
A designer of an IR optical system needs to account for key specifications that greatly impact the complexity of the device construction and its production cost. The most important requirements are described below. The maximum achievable theoretical resolution in...
As discussed in previous post on smartphone attachment lenses, users of iPhone, Galaxy, HTC One, Nexus 5, and others smartphones cannot interchange lenses to alter focal length like with a SLR camera. However, it is possible to vary the focal length with afocal...
As discussed in this post, the design of lens attachments for cell phone cameras presents particular challenges to optical and optomechanical engineers. One common market goal is to decrease the minimum focus distance of a smartphone. In this post, we will discuss key...
In the coming weeks, we will be posting about the unique design considerations and material requirements for infrared optical systems. In this post, we will focus on the definitions optical engineers use. Infrared radiation includes electromagnetic waves with...
Hello from Optics for Hire, where the topic of 3-D display has been coming up even more than usual. At the moment, the clouds over Arlington are trying to figure out how much snow to deposit on Mass Ave. Feels like the right mood to share a few of the things...
OFH has designed over 100 custom LED optics and reflectors, including streetlights, flashlights and automotive lighting. But recently we helped out on one of our most compelling projects.Design that Matters, a nonprofit focused on creating products to improve the...
