Scientific Laboratory Instruments, Optics, and Photonics

Light sources are needed for transmission, absorption and reflection spectroscopic setups. To couple, the light conveniently with the fiber optic bundles, bundles and probes it is essential to collect the light and couple it through SMA-905 connectors. There are different light sources like Tungsten-Halogen light source, Deuterium-Halogen Light Source , LED, Mercury-Argon etc that have different application and wavelength ranges. Tungsten-halogen light source provides stable output and is used in the visible range to do color measurements. Halogen light provides stable output and its life depends on the color and temperature of the bulb. The high stability of halogen light source makes it suitable for the use as a color reflection illumination source and as an irradiance calibration light source. Deuterium light source is found in combination with halogen and is called Deuterium-Halogen Light Source . It provides a stable output and is used in UV-absorption or reflection

The collimator is a device that changes the diverging light or other radiations from a point source into a parallel beam. This specific feature of the device makes it an important part in spectroscopy and geometric and physical optics. An optical collimator consists of a tube with a convex lens at one end and an adjustable aperture at the other. The collimating lens of Thorlabs inside the collimator produces rays into the parallel beam so that the image can be viewed without parallax. Uses of Collimating Lens The collimating lens of Thorlabs or other labs is curved optical lenses that are used by the user to control the field of view, collection efficiency and spatial resolution of their setups. It is also used to configure illumination and collection angles for sampling. Use of Collimating Lenses in Radiology The collimator lens is also used in radiology where a collimator is an arrangement of absorbers for limiting beam of X-rays, gamma rays, or nuclear par

Different types of parabolic, spherical, and flat mirrors are produced having different types of mirror substrates . These products have a variety of metallic and dielectric coatings that make them suitable for various applications. The various types of mirror coatings include Protected Aluminum, Enhanced Aluminum, UV Enhanced Aluminum, Bare Gold, and Protected Gold etc that are used for visible applications. UV and DUV enhanced aluminum is used for UV and visible applications while Bare and Protected Gold offer high reflectance for near Infrared and Infrared Wavelength. First Surface and Second Surface Mirrors All the mirrors you use are first surface mirrors. This mirror has a high reflectance coating deposited on the front surface of a variety of different types of glass, metal or semiconductor substrates. The other surface of the mirror may be clear or ground and the mirror is oriented so that the coating faces the source. They are widely used in precision optics ap

Fiber optics or optical fiber refers to the medium and the technology associated with the transmission of information as the light pulses along a glass or plastic strand or fiber. The central core to the fiber is surrounded by a cladding and a protective coating. Ones the light is injected into the core it remains trapped into it until emerged from the opposite end; this is because the cladding has a slightly higher index of refraction than the core. The sensors, illuminators, and toys make use of inexpensive plastic fibers. The environment that requires electrical isolation or protection from the elements uses fiber coupled LED . Coupling of Optical Fibers to LEDs and Sensors Although many fiber couplers are available for various LEDs and light sensors one can connect silica and plastic fibers directly to LEDs and sensors. Here are different methods used to produce fiber coupled LED and sensors. Preparing the Fiber Ends To obtain the best results use the plast

Lenses come with many aberrations like chromatic aberration and spherical aberration. To reduce aberrations and to increase the performance of your system it is important to choose a lens with a right design and correct multi-element systems. Thorlabs provides a high-quality optical material with the substrate and anti-reflection coating of a different wavelength. Spherical Singlets It is a preferable choice for many applications where aberration is not a great concern. The various singlet design of collimating lens Thorlabs are Plano-Convex, Bi-Convex, Plano-Concave, and Bi-Concave. These lenses are used for the wide application. Plano-Convex Lenses These lenses are used where the object or image distance is more than five times the other. Plano-convex lens of the Thorlabs performs best for collimating a point source or for focusing collimated light. These lenses are subjected to some aberration that reduces a multi-element system. Bi-Convex Lenses It

Lab water chiller s are the large energy users in many laboratories. It is necessary for the comprehensive maintenance of this equipment to ensure their reliability and efficient operation. Generally, there are five essential areas that should be considered to maintain the proper working of a water chiller. Maintain a Daily Operating Log The performance of the chiller should be analyzed daily and must be documented in a detailed log. It helps in comparison of its efficiency and detection of problems, if any. This also helps the operator to maintain a history of the operating condition and in detecting any upcoming potential problems. Keep the Tubes Clean Large chillers contain several miles of tubing in their heat exchangers. The efficiency and performance of lab water chiller mainly depend on its ability to transfer heat that begins with clean evaporator and condenser tubes. But with time mud, algae, sludge accumulates on the water side of the heat transfer sur

Laboratories that are concerned with quantitative analysis require stringent calibration of scales. Nowadays, modern scales are used, whose precision is largely dependent on the accuracy of calibration weight in the United States. The accuracy of the scale depends on the grades of stainless steel and other contributing factors. There are different classes of calibrated weight which is defined by the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML) These calibration weight is available with certificates in the United States . Class E1: These weights are the highest accuracy class, and are intended to use for traceability between national mass standards and OIML class E2 weight and lower. The maximal permissible error from the nominal value at 1 kg is ±0.5 mg. This class of calibration weight is used as primary laboratory reference standard in the United States . Class E2: Weights that are intended for use in the verification or calibration of class F1 weights an

Ball lenses are an optical component used for improving coupling between fibers, emitters, and detectors and for coupling and collimating in the range of 0.5 to 5mm in diameter. They are also used in endoscopy, barcode scanning, and sensor applications. Ball lens of Thorlabs are prepared using a single substrate of glass and is used for collimating light. The collimation of light depends on the geometry of input sources. The most important factor that is used to determine the performance of the ball lens is the numerical aperture. This is because of the spherical aberration of the ball lens in proportion to the cube of numerical aperture. This limits the use of ball lens for the use with fibers having a numerical aperture of 0.2 or less. Following parameters are used to defines the application of ball lens: •          The diameter of the input source •          The diameter of the ball lens •          Effective focal length of ball length •          Ba