Posts on this page of our Blog relate to the Optics product category.
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Chroma’s support team gets asked a version of this question often enough that we built a reference for it: “Which way does this filter go?” Chroma just updated their “Filter Orientation Guide” with info covering excitation, emission, and dichroic filters. This guide also explains why the same rules don’t apply to astronomy and machine vision … Continue reading
Inertial fusion energy (IFE) programs are moving from occasional single-shot experiments towards lasers that must fire many times per second. For optics specification, repetition rate is a greater challenge than aperture. A commercial fusion system would need firing rates orders of magnitude higher than those of traditional laser research facilities. The component types are familiar: … Continue reading
Most engineers start with silicon. It’s cheap. It’s familiar. It works great below 1000 nm. Then the wavelength moves. Fiber optic networks run at 1310 nm and 1550 nm. LiDAR systems push into longer near-infrared bands. Spectroscopy depends on SWIR absorption features silicon can’t touch. Silicon’s practical detection range ends near 1.1 µm. At that point, silicon … Continue reading
A satellite laser communications developer needed three filters with three very different jobs — all in one system: Precise Tx/Rx channel isolation Tight beam splitter tolerances Broadband solar rejection No off-the-shelf design covered that combination. For the solar filter, Chroma Technology built a hybrid gold induced-transmission design: a dielectric bandpass filter paired with a continuous … Continue reading
What actually determines the performance of a high LIDT coating? In the experience of Manx Precision Optics (MPO), it comes down to the following interconnected variables: Substrate preparation – Shaping, grinding, edging, and lapping remove fractures and subsurface damage introduced during initial machining, providing a stable base for coating adhesion and damage resistance. Surface roughness … Continue reading
Why don’t most multiphoton systems use excitation filters? It’s the laser. Because the lasers being used for these applications are tunable through a wide range (that is 700–1100 nm), excitation/clean-up filters are generally not used in the excitation/illumination path of the microscope. This is just one consideration that makes filter selection for multiphoton microscopy different … Continue reading