Optical Filter Basics: Blocking Level & Blocking Range
Light transmission is important when it comes to optical filters, but effective blocking levels and ranges should be utilized as well to ensure optimal performance.
Effective blocking levels and ranges are essential in preventing unwanted wavelengths from passing through the filter, which could interfere with the desired signal or image. Let’s look closer at these two essential filter characteristics:
- Blocking Level: A measure of the out-of-band attenuation of an optical filter over an extended range of the spectrum. The attenuation level is often defined in units of optical density.
- Blocking Range: The range of wavelengths over which an optical filter maintains a specified blocking (attenuation) level.
These two parameters ensure you have greater control over the filtered light by not just transmitting the desired wavelengths, but also by effectively blocking the undesired ones. The blocking properties of an optical filter can be as important, or at times, more important than the transmissive properties depending on the application.
To learn more about the world of optical filters, download Chroma Technology’s comprehensive Handbook of Optical Filter for Fluorescence Microscopy for more detailed information including a comprehensive glossary!
About Chroma Technology
Chroma Technology is a leading manufacturer and OEM supplier of high performance optical filters used in a wide range of applications, including health care, biomedical research, remote sensing, machine vision, and aerospace. Chroma offers an extensive selection of optical filter sets and filter accessories, as well as custom solutions tailored to customer-specific needs.
For more information or a quotation for this or other Chroma products, contact IL Photonics.