When I was a young undergrad engineering student, I always found optics to be a very confusing subject. It was not only the equations, but what it looked like hundreds of different definitions involved in even the simplest of optical systems. Some concepts, like...
Beam splitters are a fundamental element in optical systems. Beam splitters are, in essence, optical components used to divide a single light source (usually a laser) into two separate beams. The more common kind of beam splitters (the kind that you can find in most...
Introduction to f-theta Lenses In the landscape of optical systems, the introduction of f-theta lenses is an important chapter, offering a solution to the challenges posed by traditional lenses in laser scanning applications. As laser technology becomes more...
Introduction to Telecentric Lenses An important goal in machine vision applications is taking measurements in a consistent, accurate, and precise manner. This can include measuring the dimensions of manufactured parts to guarantee they are within the design...
In a previous post, we explained the concept of a material refractive index in optics in the context of optical design. Something that we didn’t review however is that many materials have two, three (and even more) different refractive indices depending on the...
When thinking of a ‘lens’, most people have the image of a spherical lens in their mind, but there are different geometries for lenses, and one of the most common is the cylindrical lens. What’s the difference between spherical and geometrical lenses? And what...
Introduction to Spot Diagrams As optical engineers, we use different tools and techniques to evaluate the performance of an optical design when simulating the system in a ray tracing program. One of those tools are spot diagrams. They may be a little bit confusing to...
Planning to hire a lens design partner to assist with your optical engineering program? Here are a few things to consider. Do you need a lens for illumination or for imaging? The design methods and software tools used for illumination and imaging are different. Many...
In industrial applications (including automotive and aviation), small manufacturing defects can lead to expensive or catastrophic failures. Manufacturers rely on human inspection or costly and complex optical systems hardware to detect such defects. Recent advances in...
All roadway lamps must be designed according to specific standards. The most popular ones are a US standard called "IESNA RP 8-00 Roadway lightning" and a European one called "CIE 140-2000 Road lighting calculations". In the case of CIE 140-2000, the standard only...
The selection of optical materials is a critical step in the design of infrared optics. Traditional optical materials (optical glasses and plastics) used in the design of visible radiation optics aren’t suitable due to their high light absorption coefficient in the...
In the past several years, smartphone cameras have taken a big step forward. The image quality of the best iPhone, Samsung, and HTC cameras is equivalent to low-priced Canon, Nikon, Pentax, and Sony DSLR cameras. Many prefer taking photos with smartphones due to...
In recent years, a key differentiator among the competing smart phone manufacturers has been their cameras. A quick look at the marketing for the Apple iphone, Samsung Galaxy, LG, Nokia, and HTC smart phones demonstrates how important outstanding camera performance...
Updated June 2020. Our recent post described how to read optical production drawings. One of the parameters frequently found in optical drawings, "Datum Surface," should be covered more closely. Datum definition As defined by both ISO and ANSI technical standards,...
Updated June 2020. In our previous article, we discussed how to read optical drawings while in this installment, we will focus on surface finish details. Optical lens performance can be heavily affected by the lens surface roughness. The surface texture symbols are...
Since the start of the LED lighting revolution, plastic optics have been made primarily from acrylic (PMMA), polycarbonate or a modified version of either material (for example PMMI). More recently, silicon-based optical materials have grown in market share. These...
7 key specifications when working with an optical engineer to design a custom imaging lens for your application. Questions we ask at www.opticsforhire.com that apply to any optics project. Need help? Click here to learn more about our custom optical engineering...
