How Mirror Surface Quality Affects Scatter and Stray Light
Mirror surface quality affects scatter through several different surface features. Microroughness sends a small fraction of the reflected light into a diffuse halo, and that…
Read articleGIAI Photonics
Optical Engineering
Here we provide articles about popular science and applications of filters, lenses, prisms, reflectors, ND mirrors and other optical components. You are welcome to read! optical engineering articles, optical engineering guides, optical components, optical design, optics technology, photonics engineering
How Coating Stress Affects Optical Flatness: Causes & Fixes
A substrate can leave polishing at λ/10 and come out of the coating chamber measuring a full wave of error. The polishing did not change.…
Read article
Front Surface Mirror vs Back Surface Mirror: Ghosts, Uses
A front surface mirror reflects at the coating; a back surface mirror reflects after a double pass through the substrate. An uncoated glass front face…
Read article
What Is Germanium Used for in Infrared Optics?
Germanium (Ge) is used in infrared optics primarily to manufacture thermal imaging lenses, infrared windows, protective sensor optics, and components for infrared measurement systems. Its…
Read article
ZnSe vs Germanium for Infrared Lenses
Germanium suits 8–12 µm imaging lenses: an index of 4.0 and very low LWIR dispersion keep element count and curvature low. ZnSe suits high-power CO2…
Read article
How to Choose a Silicon Lens for Infrared Systems
Choosing a silicon lens starts with the operating wavelength, not the lens diameter or catalog shape. Confirm that silicon is suitable for the complete spectral…
Read article
Optical Thickness vs Physical Thickness in Thin Films
Physical thickness is the actual geometric thickness of a thin-film layer, while optical thickness describes how that layer affects the phase of light. At normal…
Read article
Machine Vision Filter Manufacturer | Custom Filters
A machine vision filter manufacturer should do more than manufacture a filter around a nominal wavelength. The filter must be evaluated together with the illumination…
Read article
How Material Absorption Affects Optical Transmission
Internal transmittance falls exponentially with path length, τ = exp(−αd); doubling thickness squares τ, and the loss doubles only while absorption is weak. Uncoated glass…
Read article
What Determines the Laser Damage Threshold of a Coating?
The laser damage threshold of an optical coating, usually referred to as the laser-induced damage threshold or LIDT, is not determined by the coating material…
Read article
How to Specify a Custom Optical Window
A useful custom optical window specification should define more than material and dimensions. At minimum, it should describe the operating wavelength, substrate or material grade,…
Read article
Surface Flatness vs Wavefront Error
Surface flatness and wavefront error are related, but they are not interchangeable specifications. Surface flatness describes how much a nominally flat optical surface departs from…
Read article