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Test & Measurement
Scatter and BSDF Measurements: Theory and PracticeUnderstanding the fundamental characteristics of scatter and the limitations imposed by scatterometers is essential to performing meaningful stray light calculations.
Measuring Aspheres: Selecting the Best TechniqueThe benefits of aspheric lenses are numerous: They allow for a reduction in spherical aberrations and are ideal for focusing or collimating light, as they can achieve a low ƒ-number. Aspheres also allow the same or better performance using fewer...
Measuring Surface Roughness: The Benefits of Laser Confocal MicroscopyWhen evaluating the surface of a component, surface roughness can be assessed by eye or by rubbing it with a fingertip. Common expressions include “shiny,” “lusterless and rough,” “like oxidized silver,” or “like a mirror.” The differences indicated...
Measuring Small-Beam MFD: Overcoming the ChallengesSmall beams are used in many critical applications yet often they are not directly profiled. While obtaining good beam profiling data on beams under 10 µm has its challenges, they can be overcome with proven techniques.
Laser Measurement Systems: Best PracticesGiven the pace at which technology advances, there always seems to be a learning curve. With the abundance of consumer electronics available, there typically is no right or wrong way to use these devices — the choice usually comes down to the method...
Aspheric Lenses: Optimizing the DesignThis second of two articles discusses the tools optical designers need to tailor their designs to the appropriate manufacturing process, optimizing the cost of component fabrication.
Understanding Surface Quality: A Practical GuideSurface quality has become one of the most poorly understood specifications in the optics industry. A significant portion of the confusion stems from the two major competing (and largely incompatible) standards, Mil-PRF-13830B, and ISO 10110. Both...
Integrating Spheres: Collecting and Uniformly Distributing LightThe integrating sphere is a simple, yet often misunderstood, device for measuring optical radiation. An integrating sphere’s function is to spatially integrate radiant flux (light). However, before one can optimize a sphere design for a particular...
Interferometry: Measuring with LightLong applied to optical shop testing, interferometry is now used to measure many different types of parts in a variety of applications, such as optical system performance, surface roughness, surface form, and displacement of moving surfaces. An...
Optical Delay Lines: Key to Time-Resolved MeasurementsTo obtain an accurate means of creating reliable delays in any time-resolved spectroscopy or dynamic experiment, several factors about the delay line stage must be considered to reduce or eliminate errors associated with linear stages. One of the...
Broadband Spectrophotometry: A Fast, Simple, Accurate ToolBroadband spectrophotometers coupled with relatively simple algorithms can provide fast, nondestructive and comprehensive characterization of thin films. Designing devices that incorporate ultrathin films is an important means of enhancing yields....
Imaging Colorimetry: Accuracy in Display and Light Source MetrologyCCD-based instruments provide accurate photometric and colorimetric data for each image pixel, which enables precise characterization of displays, instrument panels, light sources and luminaires for parameters including color, luminance, uniformity,...
Laser Beam Measurement: Slit-Based Profilers for Pulsed BeamsAlthough slit-based profilers were designed to measure continuous-wave (CW) lasers, they can also work for pulsed-mode lasers. Measuring pulsed-beam lasers has generally required the use of a CCD array profiler. This is a reasonable solution for...
Photometry: The Answer to How Light Is PerceivedSimply put, photometry is the measurement of visible light based on the response of the average human observer. How that definition translates into technically correct quantification methods is the focus of this article. That portion of the spectrum...
Quantifying Light: Intensity, Uniformity Hold the KeyWhen an application requires an illumination source, the designer can provide an optimal solution if the application’s attributes are described in light intensity and uniformity values at the field of interest.Intensity and uniformity can be...
Radiometry: A Simplified Description of Light MeasurementRadiometry involves measuring and predicting levels of optical radiation. This article removes some of the confusion surrounding this often complex technology. Radiometry involves several activities. The two most common are the description and...
Spectroscopy: The Tools of the TradeUnderstanding the whys and wherefores of a technology goes a long way toward solving your problem. Putting that knowledge to work requires an understanding of the tools of the trade and how to use them.
Dynamic Interferometry: Getting Rid of the JittersMechanical vibration, moving parts and turbulent airflow present significant problems for most interferometric test methods. New techniques help solve the problem. Conditions on the factory floor and in industrial cleanrooms with high-capacity air...
Colorimetry: How to Measure Color DifferencesColorimetry, the science of color measurement, is widely employed in commerce, industry, and the laboratory to express color in numerical terms and to measure color differences between specimens. Applications include paints, inks, plastics, textiles...
NSOM: Discovering New WorldsNear-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) is an optical microscopy technique capable of imaging objects with a resolution below the diffraction limit of conventional (far-field) microscopy; i.e., below approximately half the wavelength of the...
Particle Image Velocimetry: Basics, Developments and TechniquesNew tools and techniques such as single-oscillator, double-pulsed lasers expand the applications for particle image velocimetry, particularly in aircraft design. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) is an experimental tool in fluid mechanics and...
Spectroscopy: Mastering the TechniquesSpectrochemical analysis employing optical spectroscopic methods is used to monitor the water we drink, the food we eat, the status of human health, and the quality of the environment. Such methods are also crucial to the development of safe and...
Spectrum Analysis for DWDM: New Instruments Meet the ChallengeThe demand for bandwidth drives a growing need for a new breed of test and measurement instruments. As system and cable installers try to optimize their links, the preferred method has become high-speed DWDM.
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