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News & Blog
Angle of Incidence
Angle of incidence is defined to be the angle between the direction of propagation of incoming light and a line perpendicular to the component surface.
Diameter Tolerances
Dimensional tolerances refer to the allowed variations in the physical dimensions, such as diameter, length, width and thickness, of a finished part. Performing dimensional measurements during part fabrication is usually relatively straightforward, and is accomplished using familiar tools such as calipers, gauges and optical comparators.
Extinction Ratio
Extinction Ratio is the ratio of transmitted power with only p polarized incident light to the transmitted power with only s polarized incident light. ARO determines extinction ratio by performing separate measurements of s and p polarized light transmittance in our spectrophotometers.
Reflectivity
Reflectance is the ratio of the light flux returned from a surface to the amount of light flux incident on the surface. In the context of precision optical components, the returned light flux specifically refers to specular reflectance (energy contained within the usable returned wavefront), and does not include diffuse reflectance (scattered light).
Surface Quality
Surface quality, or scratch and dig (SAD), relates to the number and apparent size of visible defects, typically scratches and pits (called digs), on the part surface. While this may seem straightforward, probably no optical specification causes greater confusion.
Optical Material and Components
Here at Alpine Research Optics, our products are created with the highest quality materials and assembled with the most advanced techniques available. From fabrication to coating, we can readily produce customized optics in virtually every aspect.
Surface Flatness
For plano parts, surface flatness is defined to be the amount by which the actual part differs from a perfect plane. For radiused parts, two numbers are typically used to specify surface shape.
Surface Roughness
Surface roughness is the texture of an optical surface on a microscopic scale, as opposed to flatness, power and irregularity which all relate to large scale (macroscopic) surface shape. It can be defined a number of different ways (arithmetic average, root mean square, etc.)
Infrared Optics
ARO offers near infrared coatings from 750-3000nm. Our infrared optics cover a broad range of the most commonly required specifications in terms of wavelength, size, reflectivity, and angle of incidence.