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Ball Lenses and Half-Ball Lenses
Ball lenses belong to a special form of biconvex lenses which have the geometry of a ball(sphere). They are manufactured from a single material, usually an optical glass with good transparency in the wavelength region of interest. The typical applications of ball lenses include focusing light in the field of fibers(e.g. laser to fiber coupling ,fiber to fiber coupling), emitters and detectors.Half-Ball lenses are variants of ball lenses, they are ideal for for more compact designs.
BBO Crystals for EO Applications
Beta-Barium Borate ( BBO) crystal is an excellent electro-optic crystal for high power applications at the wavelength range from 200nm to 2,500nm. It could be used as the EO Q-switching crystals, Beta BBO crystals or beta barium borate crystals exhibit significant advantages over other materials in terms of laser power handling abilities,high damage threshold temperature stability, and substantial freedom from piezoelectric ringing.
Pockels cells
Pockels Cells are important electro-optic device which exploit the pockels effect. Applying a constant or varying voltage (electric field) on Electro-Optic Crystals can cause the crystal birefringence to change linearly.
N-BK7
N-BK7 is a Schott designation for the most common Borosilicate Crown glass used for a wide variety of visible applications. The basic data here is given for N-BK7. Full optical design data on N-BK7 and other glasses can be found by following the web links at the bottom of this page.
ZnSe (Zinc Selenide)
ZnSe is used widely for IR components, windows and lenses, and for spectroscopic ATR prisms. Zinc Selenide is one of the materials of choice for CO2 laser optics operating at 10.6 microns.
ZnS (Zinc Sulphide Multispectral, CVD)
ZnS Multispectral (water-clear) is used for IR windows and lenses in the thermal band (8 to 14 μm) where maximum transmission and lowest absorption is required. Also selected for use where visible alignment is an advantage.
TiO2 (Rutile)
Titanium dioxide crystals, chemically formulated as TiO2, belong to the tetragonal system and exhibit high refractive index, excellent thermal stability and chemical inertness, a wide optical transmittance range, high mechanical hardness, and a low defect density. They are suitable for applications in optics, electronics, and functional thin film growth.
Si (Silicon)
Silicon is used as an optical window primarily in the 3 to 5 micron band and as a substrate for production of optical filters. Large blocks of Silicon with polished faces are also employed as neutron targets in Physics experiments.
SiO2 (Quartz Crystal)
Optically, Crystalline Quartz is used extensively as a wave retardation medium. The birefringent properties of Quartz are of use in quarter-wave plates and in polarisers. Quartz should not be processed or used at temperatures greater than 490 °C. Crystalline quartz is also used for electronic filters and resonators. However, Crystran Ltd. does not deal in material for this application.
MgO (Magnesium Oxide)
Magnesium Oxide can be used for high temperature windows and substrates. HTSC substrates.