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Optics can be as simple as a pair of glasses or contact lenses or as intricate as lens optimization techniques that can navigate multi-dimensional space.
The visual monitoring of manufacturing processes, optical quality inspections, the detection of surface defects and completeness checks for features on complex products have become essential in industry. At this, JENOPTIK Laser, Optik, Systeme GmbH (Jena, Germany) offers a standard range of high-precision lenses for sophisticated applications. Absolute precision, exceptional reliability and secure handling are the quality characteristics of the JENmetar™ Telecentric Measurement Lenses. The lenses in this series work on the tried and tested principle of telecentric imaging for measuring technology. They were specially developed for taking measurements in the quality control process and for image processing. The unity of function and quality in the JENmetar™ series ensures high reliability and reproducibility of the measurements particularly in industrial applications. The JENmetar™ brand mark stands for the warranty for the geometrical accuracy of moving or spatially extended objects due to strict telecentric principles, with an extremly low distortion and high image quality. Besides these characteristics, the JENmetar™ telecentric measurement lenses offer other key advantages: The specified optical parameters apply equally for all wavelengths in the visible spectrum up to the near infrared. There are no restrictions on the use of white light or color image cameras. www.jenoptik-los.com
Deposition Sciences, Inc. (DSI, Santa Rosa, Calif.) announces a line of transparent conductive coatings for use in the visible and near-infrared (NIR) spectral ranges. The new family of transparent coatings is compatible with DSI's dichroic filter technology, enabled by the patented Microdyn® sputtering process. This proprietary technology yields high performance, highly uniform, transparent conductive filters that remain extremely stable while withstanding high thermal loads and changes in humidity.DSI offers a wide variety of optical thin films that operate in the visible and near-IR wavelengths. These now can be combined with the new transparent conductive coatings and formulated to be broadband or spectrally selective, per customer requirements. The new conductive coatings with indium tin oxide, induced transmission silver, and induced transmission gold, all deliver high transmission within selected wavelength ranges from 400nm to 2500nm. These coatings can be applied onto a wide variety of substrates, including silicon, germanium, zinc sulfide, zinc selenide, and most glass types that are compatible with the visible to near-infrared spectral regions. www.depsci.com
Moritex (San Jose, Calif.) announces the introduction of the new ML-0310VF Variable Focus Macro Lens. Designed for use with large format megapixel CCD and CMOS cameras (up to 15.2 x 15.2mm sensor size) Moritex's new Macro Lens delivers the required accuracy to inspect large area components in high resolution. Incorporating a varifocal zoom and variable iris the new Macro Lens provides users with the flexibility to adjust both zoom and focus. This flexibility, coupled with the ability to achieve a variable depth of field, enables the ML-0310VF Macro Lens to deliver leading -edge performance for applications including PCB and wafer inspection, electronic part inspection, automotive part inspection and solar panel inspection. ML-0310VF Macro Lens was developed to provide customers with an optimised lens for inspecting wide areas at high resolution at short working distances (75 -145mm). www.moritex.com
Ocean Optics (Dunedin, Fla.) introduces the Optical Transmittance Spectrometer (OTS), a compact system designed for accurate, repeatable real-time transmittance measurement of optical lenses and other optical components. The OTS is particularly useful for measuring tint color, photopic transmittance and UV cutoff of ophthalmic lenses and for characterizing photochromic, electrochromic and sun lens materials. The OTS covers the 380-1000 nm wavelength range and accepts samples from 10-76 mm diameter and 25.4 mm thickness. The system comprises several components: High-resolution miniature linear CCD-array spectrometer configured for 380-1000 nm; high-power, 20-watt tungsten halogen light source; fiber optic integrating sphere for collecting signal transmitted through the sample; Optics for improved beam collimation and spectral sensitivity distribution; sample fixture (z-stage) to hold sample in place and exclude ambient light and short optical fiber to channel signal from the integrating sphere to the spectrometer. www.oceanoptics.com
Off-axis parabolic mirrors from Optical Surfaces Ltd. (Surrey, England) are the high-precision optical component of choice for applications including high- power laser focusing, focusing upon astronomical objects, MRTD testing and bore sight alignment for missile guidance systems. Optical Surfaces' team of engineers and craftsmen typically can produce off-axis parabolic mirrors up to 600 mm in diameter with surface accuracy to lambda/20 p-v depending upon off-axis angles. With proprietary polishing techniques Optical Surfaces can, depending on the surface accuracy required, achieve the natural limit to the off-axis angle of around 25-30 degrees and surface micro-roughness on aspherics of approximately 1 nm rms. A range of coatings is available for standard and custom components from metallic with or without protective overcoat to multilayer dielectrics and ultra-hard coatings. Parabolic mirrors are the most common type of aspherical mirrors used in optical instruments. They are free from spherical aberrations, and thus focus a parallel beam to a point or a point source to infinity. Off-axis parabolic mirrors provide an unobstructed aperture allowing complete access to the focal region as well as reducing the size and minimizing the weight of a design. They are especially suitable for broadband or multiple wavelength applications due to their completely achromatic performance. www.optisurf.com
Resolve Optics Ltd. (Bucks, U.K.) has designed and developed a 4-40mm HD Motorized Zoom Lens that for the first time provides users with true high definition imaging throughout its range of operation. Designed for use with 1/3-inch 3-chip high-definition cameras the lens uniquely delivers high resolution (720-line progressive and 1080-line interlaced) in a compact 10x zoom lens measuring only 84 x 70 x 70 millimeters. The high-performance f/2.2 4-40mm HD zoom can focus on an object at 1300mm through to infinity and at any object distance, the high-definition image stays in focus throughout the zoom range (focus tracking). Focus, Zoom and Iris functions are motorized with Swiss DC motors to provide smooth and precise movements. The lens also has adjustable back focus to ensure the sharpest image and top siding to place the control cable in a convenient position. As well as offering continuous image focus throughout the zoom tracking range a thread on the front of the 4-40mm HD Zoom enables a standard filter to be simply fitted without clipping or vignetting images. www.resolveoptics.com
StingRay Optics, LLC, (Keene, N.H.) is now offering a new midwave infrared large format lens assembly with optional microscan and step stare capability. The lens was designed in response to a custom requirement for a microscanning and step-stare imaging sensor platform development effort. However the base 50mm, F/2.3 lens was designed so that it could be used independently of the microscan and steering mirror subassembly. The lens is suitable for use with cooled cameras with focal planes up to 28mm in diagonal. The speed of the lens is based upon an F/2.3 cold shield arrangement. The 50mm focal length for the lens was derived from the required 1 meter sampling area at an operating distance of 2.5km. The lens offers diffraction limited performance over the entire field of view thus enabling the microscan image enhancement feature to achieve the highest potential clarity. The micro-scanning system for which the lens was developed is being utilized to determine the inherent benefits of image dithering and processing with an emphasis on decreasing ground sampling distances. Simultaneously, the system's step and staring field of view feature is intended to explore both optical and mechanical methods to rapidly survey and stitch the field of view to produce a system with a substantially larger field of regard. www.stingrayoptics.com
Tessera Technologies, Inc. (San Jose, Calif.) announces that the company's OptiML™ UFL solution now is available for licensing. This innovative image-enhancement solution enables camera phone and webcam module manufacturers to meet the increasing demand for mobile devices that provide better quality images, in smaller form factors and at lower costs. The innovative OptiML UFL technology uses a combination of advanced lens design and embedded processing technology to improve low-light performance of a camera module by increasing the amount of available light by as much as 250 percent, without degrading the field depth or other performance factors. It enables significantly higher-quality images for cameras in mobile devices without the need for any mechanical parts, providing an alternative to current solutions that require moving parts which are larger, slower, more expensive and less reliable. The OptiML UFL solution addresses the growing challenge of image quality in next-generation mobile devices. In particular, the decreasing pixel size of smaller silicon imagers leads to a reduction in the amount of light per pixel, which leads to further degradation of image quality. The OptiML UFL solution solves the image quality issue with its unique fast lens design, which enables an F number that is significantly lower than a standard lens, without sacrificing the camera module's close-range focus capability. This greatly improves indoor image capture where low-light situations generally occur. www.tessera.com/technologies
ZC&R Coatings for Optics, Inc. (Torrance, Calif.) and Abrisa Industrial Glass, Inc. partner to produce display glass, LCD glass plates, overlay and bus bar printing production solutions for a wide variety of glass substrates. Precision coated indium tin oxide (ITO) and index-matched ITO (IMITO) transparent thin films from ZC&R offer high transmittance and low resistance. Installed in a Class 100 clean room, Abrisa's enhanced Ekra X4 fully-automated printing system delivers sophisticated production printing on glass materials for a variety of industrial and military-grade applications. High efficiency, anti-reflection coatings (both standard and custom products) are ideal for accurate display glass printing. ZC&R and Abrisa's new display glass coating capabilities include precision patterning of durable epoxy-based bus bars and thermoset or ceramic-based inks with 15 micron print-to-print accuracy in sizes up to 460mm x 460mm. For rugged environments, such as cockpit displays, bonding of connecting wires and flex cable bonding can be provided. Other glass coating solutions include chemical and thermal glass strengthening and the capability to both deposit and/or print bus bars. Precision coatings, intricate and patterned ink frames and OEM art work can be custom printed on glass, per each customer's specifications. www.zcrcoatings.com and www.abrisa.com
author: By Stacey Meacham, Managing Editor - Advanced Imaging