Register
Sign In
Suppliers
Products
Categories
Handbook
Dictionary
Careers
Resources
Photonics Spectra
BioPhotonics
Vision Spectra
Virtual Events & Summits
Educational Institutions
Add/Update Your Listing
Exhibitor Listing Portal
Become an Exhibitor
Buyers' Guide Print Edition
Subscribe
Advertise
Suppliers
Products
Categories
Handbook
Dictionary
Careers
Resources
Photonics Spectra
BioPhotonics
Vision Spectra
Virtual Events & Summits
Educational Institutions
Add/Update Your Listing
Exhibitor Listing Portal
Become an Exhibitor
Buyers' Guide Print Edition
Register
Sign In
Photonics Marketplace
Suppliers
Products
Handbook
Institutions
Dictionary
Show Filters
Hide Filters
Sections
Coatings
Communications
Fiber Optics
Imaging
Lasers
Light Sources
Materials
Microscopy
Optics
Positioning
Sensors & Detectors
Spectroscopy
Test & Measurement
General Reference
36 articles
Photonics Handbook
Clear All Filters x
micro scope x
What Is Photonics?
Photonics Media Editors
Photonics is the study of light and other types of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The impact of photonics on research, technology, navigation, culture, astronomy, forensics, and...
Detectors: Options for Low-Light Applications
SLAWOMIR PIATEK AND EARL HERGERT, HAMAMATSU CORPORATION
Developed in the early 1990s, the silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) is a solid-state photodetector whose sensitivity to light rivals that of a photomultiplier tube (PMT) in a regime where a few hundred...
Optical System Optimization: Analyzing the Effects of Stray Light
Richard Pfisterer, Photon Engineering LLC
Electrical engineers are very familiar with the effects of shot noise, thermal noise, flicker noise and crosstalk, and recognize how these effects can reduce the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in their...
Superresolution Microscopy: An Imaging Revolution
Marie Freebody, Contributing Editor
Superresolution optical microscopy, for which the Nobel Prize was awarded to Eric Betzig, Stefan Hell, and William Moerner in 2014, has been one of the most momentous developments in the life...
Industrial Lasers: An Introduction to Process Qualification
JOCHEN DEILE AND FRANK GAEBLER, COHERENT INC.
Materials processing with lasers is actually a broad term for a diverse range of applications. The major categories of these uses, and the lasers that service them, are summarized Table 1. At one...
QCL Primer: History, Characteristics, Applications
Hamamatsu Corporation
Since its first successful operation in 1960 at Hughes Research Labs, the laser technology has been at the center of innovation and research. Semiconductor lasers first made their appearance in 1962...
Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging: Choosing the Best Approach
GERHARD HOLST, Excelitas PCO GmbH
The term fluorescence is often applied as a synonym for photoluminescence, although luminescence actually covers fluorescence and phosphorescence. Both of these terms describe the process of...
Measuring Surface Roughness: The Benefits of Laser Confocal Microscopy
ROBERT BELLINGER, Evident
When 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...
Microscopy Illumination: Considering Nonlaser Light Sources
BARBARA FOSTER, THE MICROSCOPY & IMAGING PLACE INC.
As recently as five years ago, shopping for a microscope light source was fairly straightforward. For routine applications, it was tungsten halogen, typically 100 W, while for fluorescence, it was an...
Measuring Small-Beam MFD: Overcoming the Challenges
DERRICK PETERMAN, PhD, MKS Ophir
Profiling beams under 10 µm in size is one of the more challenging beam profiling applications. There are numerous reasons for this, including the very small size. Focal plane arrays commonly...
Fiber Optics: Understanding the Basics
Engineering and Marketing Staff, OFS
Optical fibers are made from either glass or plastic. Most are roughly the diameter of a human hair, and they may be many miles long. Light is transmitted along the center of the fiber from one end...
Laser Safety: Important Considerations
Ken Barat, Laser Safety Solutions
When purchasing an industrial laser system, the astute buyer will look for a Class 1 laser product — a system where the laser beam hazard is completely enclosed and there is no potential laser...
Lasers for Microscopy: Major Trends
Marco Arrigoni, Nigel Gallaher, Darryl McCoy, Volker Pfeufer, Matthias Schulze, and Daniel Callen, Coherent Inc.
Laser development for the microscopy market continues to be driven by key trends in applications, which currently include superresolution techniques, multiphoton applications in optogenetics and...
Powering Lasers: Evaluating Bench Power Supplies
Paul Corr and Patrick Klima, Arroyo Instruments LLC
A bench power supply should be thoroughly tested and characterized before it is used to power a laser. The quality of the controls and safety measures incorporated into a bench supply will need to be...
Understanding Surface Quality: A Practical Guide
John C. Smith, Rocky Mountain Instrument Co. (RMI)
Surface 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...
Vibration Control: Limiting Mechanical Noise
MKS/Newport
In general, there are three common approaches to reducing mechanical excitation of photonic systems. The first is identifying the sources of vibration and implementing ways to eliminate or reduce...
Interferometry: Measuring with Light
Zygo Corporation
An interferometer is an instrument that compares the position or surface structure of two objects. The basic two-beam division of amplitude interferometer components consists of a light source, a...
Plastic Optics: Specifying Injection-Molded Polymer Optics
William S. Beich, GS PLASTIC OPTICS
The use of precision polymer optics is becoming an increasing necessity today as products demand sophisticated light handling components to achieve desired results. Polymer optics can be thought of...
Detectors: Guideposts on the Road to Selection
Earl Hergert, Hamamatsu Corporation
Any number of medical, industrial, and analytical applications requires the detection of light. Chemiluminescence, bioluminescence, fluorescence, and atomic absorption are just a few, and all require...
Digital Still Cameras: The Changing Face of Imaging
Morio Onoe, Professor Emeritus, University of Tokyo
The digital camera represents an integration of optics, mechanics and electronics consisting of three layers (Figures 1a, b and c). The top and the middle layers are printed circuit boards (PCBs),...
Tunable Lasers: Generating Wavelengths from the UV Through the IR
Ian Read, MKS/Spectra-Physics
Applications facilitated by tunable lasers fall into two categories: situations in which one or more discrete wavelengths are not available from any single- or multiline fixed-wavelength laser, or...
Imaging Colorimetry: Accuracy in Display and Light Source Metrology
Ron Rykowski and Hubert Kostal, Radiant Imaging, Inc.
The market for flat panel displays (FPDs) has undergone tremendous growth, driven mostly by increased demand for televisions, cell phones, computers, digital cameras and MP3 players. Similarly,...
Mirrors: Coating Choice Makes a Difference
JDSU
The basic difference between the household mirror and the optical mirror is that one is coated on the back surface and the other is coated on the front. For optical applications, a front-surface...
Image Intensification: The Technology of Night Vision
Harry P. Montoro, ITT Night Vision
Image intensification, the basis of night vision, is a complex conversion of energy particles that occurs within a vacuum tube. An image-intensifier system works by collecting photons through an...
Detectors: CCDs for Life-Science Applications
Butch Moomaw, Hamamatsu Corporation, Systems Div.
Since their invention in the late 1960s, charge-coupled devices, also called CCDs, have found widespread use in imaging applications. Electronic cameras based on CCD technology are used in...
Component Choices: Avoiding Tolerancing Mistakes
Warren J. Smith, Rockwell Collins Optronics
To the novice or casual user of optics, the acquisition of an optical system can be a very difficult experience. Failure to understand the ground rules can result in unnecessarily high cost, late...
Image Processing: Turning Digital Data into Useful Information
William Silver, Cognex Corp.
Images are produced by many means: cameras, x-ray machines, electron microscopes, radar and ultrasound. They are used in the entertainment, medical, scientific and business industries; for security...
Dynamic Interferometry: Getting Rid of the Jitters
John Hayes and James Millerd, 4D Technology Corporation
Conditions on the factory floor and in industrial cleanrooms with high-capacity air filtration systems can hamper the use of interferometry. Another problem is the testing of large-aperture mirrors...
Nano-Optics Technology: Optical Alchemy
Hubert Kostal, NanoOpto Corp.
Optics today needs alchemy, and the forces that motivate microchip technology are a key reason why. Today, light can transmit and process digital information as well as electricity can — in...
Nano-Optics: New Rules for Optical Components
Hubert Kostal, NanoOpto Corp.
When physical structures get very small — on the order of molecular or atomic sizes with one or more dimensions on the nanoscale — their behavior and interactions with energy, including...
Optical Objective Systems: A Schematic Guide
Warren J. Smith, Rockwell Collins Optronics
Simple Meniscus Lens The simple meniscus lens is almost universally used in inexpensive cameras. To get an image of good quality it must be used with a separate aperture stop, reducing the...
Beam Diagnostics: Meeting the Need for High Quality
Coherent, Inc.
For any discussion of laser beam diagnostics, it is first necessary to define some terms that characterize beam properties. Broad definitions can include measurements of laser energy or power,...
NSOM: Discovering New Worlds
M. Kovar, Midako A. Nohe, N.O. Petersen and P.R. Norton, University of Western Ontario
NSOM is suitable for studies on the mesoscopic scale (several tens to hundreds of molecular dimensions). It has become an important tool in research and applications of semiconductors, organic layers...
Colorimetry: How to Measure Color Differences
Konica Minolta Sensing Americas Inc.
The use and importance of colorimetry has grown in unison with the increase of global manufacturing and processing. When plastic automotive trim produced on one continent must match a painted metal...
Spectroscopy: Mastering the Techniques
Dr. John R. Gilchrist, Clyde HSI
The scope of optical spectroscopic instrumentation is indeed very broad. Many analytical methods rely on the interaction of radiation with matter and are often described in the context of quantum and...
Adaptive Optics: Taming Atmospheric Turbulence
Tom Gonsiorowski, Adaptive Optics Associates, Inc., a Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Systems
To Isaac Newton the problem was clear, and in 1704 he realized the effects of atmospheric turbulence on image formation. Just as heat waves shimmering above a hot patch of ground can distort our...
Photonics Handbook
Explore Our Content
News
Features
Latest Products
Webinars
White Papers
All Things Photonics Podcast
Videos
Our Summits & Conferences
Industry Events
Bookstore
Join Our Community
Subscribe
Advertise
Become a member
Sign in
Contribute a Feature
Suggest a Webinar
Submit a Press Release
Mobile Apps
About Us
Our Company
Our Publications
Contact Us
Career Opportunities
Teddi C. Laurin Scholarship
Terms & Conditions
Privacy Policy
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
©2024 Photonics Media
100 West St.
Pittsfield, MA, 01201 USA
[email protected]
We use cookies to improve user experience and analyze our website traffic as stated in our
Privacy Policy
. By using this website, you agree to the use of
cookies
unless you have disabled them.