AR
CN
DEN
EN
FR
GER
ITA
POR
RUS
SPA
Posted on: Wednesday, September 28th, 2022 In: Blog, Learning Optics with Austin
Microscope objective lenses are a classic example of optics in our lives. The function of the microscope is to enlarge objects our eyes cannot see. Unlike telescopes which enlarge far away objects, the sample observed by the microscope is close to the lens. Microscopes also correct aberration, which otherwise would lead to blurry images. Achromatic […]
Read morePosted on: Tuesday, September 13th, 2022 In: News & Events
Shanghai Optics will be at Photonics West in San Francisco: January 31 – February 2, 2023! Come visit our team @ booth #1465! For more information, click here!
Read morePosted on: Monday, August 29th, 2022 In: Learning Optics with Austin
In theory, the entire lens would be up to the qualifications set by the customer. After all, if a customer ordered a 150mm lens, the whole 150mm lens should be up to specification… right? Wrong. This is because in the real world, nothing can be manufactured precisely as specified. While on paper the entire lens […]
Read morePosted on: Tuesday, August 23rd, 2022 In: Deep Dive into Optics
Manufacturing optical tolerances are important factors that impact both performance and cost of an optical component or system. Optical components commonly require tighter optical tolerances than mechanical components. Cost Drivers for Optical Components Each of the factors below will affect the cost for an optical component: • Quantity • Material • Surface Shape • Size […]
Read morePosted on: Friday, August 12th, 2022 In: Learning Optics with Austin
We briefly discussed spherical and aspherical lenses in “Intro to Optical Components”. Spherical lenses can further be broken down into different categories. Plano convex lenses are flat on one side while spherical on the other. Biconvex lenses are spherical on both sides. Similarly, for concave lenses, plano concave lenses are flat on one side and […]
Read morePosted on: Monday, August 8th, 2022 In: Deep Dive into Optics
During the manufacturing process, a lower quality surface near the edge of an optical component is created. The diameter of the area inside of the optical component that must meet optical requirements (such as surface quality, surface accuracy, coating, etc.) is called the clear aperture. Due to manufacturing constraints, it is impossible to produce a […]
Read morePosted on: Monday, August 1st, 2022 In: Learning Optics with Austin
Lenses come in all different forms, not just through the process of manufacturing. In fact, our own eyes are an optical system. Four main “components” to our eye are: 1) muscle, 2) lens (crystalline), 3) Pupil, 4) Retina. Closing your eyes when there are bright lights is an act of the muscles while the pupil […]
Read morePosted on: Tuesday, July 12th, 2022 In: Learning Optics with Austin
Light sources such as the sun give off light, but why? The equation E = hf relates the wavelength of light to energy where E is energy, h is Planck’s constant, and f is the frequency. Since we know from “How to Describe Light” that f = c / λ, we can also rewrite the […]
Read morePosted on: Monday, July 11th, 2022 In: News & Events
Shanghai Optics is offering our customers a free shipping promotion! Customers who place orders during the promotion period of July/August 2022 will receive free shipping – US only. Contact your sales representative for more details, phone: 732-321-6915.
Read morePosted on: Monday, June 27th, 2022 In: Deep Dive into Optics
Field of view (FOV) is defined as the maximum area that a device can capture. The larger the field of view, the more data can be captured at one time, so it will require fewer images to capture an entire target. FOV is specified in one of two ways: angular field of view and sized […]
Read morePosted on: Tuesday, June 21st, 2022 In: Learning Optics with Austin
With the knowledge of interference and polarization, it is time to talk about the practical applications of both! Diffraction gratings are used to change the path of light and there are two types: transmission grating and reflection grating. A transmission grating utilizes diffraction to break light apart into different colors. A reflection grating has a […]
Read morePosted on: Monday, June 6th, 2022 In: Learning Optics with Austin
Now that we have explored light waves, we can dive more in depth into polarization. In how to describe light, we mentioned that sunlight is a form of unpolarized light or natural light. But what exactly causes light to become polarized? As light is an electromagnetic wave, it has both an electric field and magnetic […]
Read morePosted on: Tuesday, May 31st, 2022 In: Deep Dive into Optics
Surface accuracy is the measurement of the deviation between the actual shape and the intended shape of an optical surface. Surface accuracy is an important specification of an optical component. Surface accuracy usually is described in terms of fringes or waves that correspond to the interferometer laser wavelength, which is typically 632.8 nanometers for many […]
Read morePosted on: Tuesday, May 24th, 2022 In: News & Events
Our team will be at the SPIE Optics + Photonics show in San Diego from August 23-25, 2022! Visit us at Booth #212 for the latest updates on our products and services or to discuss how we can help you make your upcoming projects successful. Click here for more information.
Read morePosted on: Friday, May 13th, 2022 In: Learning Optics with Austin
We left off in the interference post using water waves to represent the interference that occurs between light waves. A well known experiment having to do with interference of light is the double-slit experiment. In this experiment, light passes through two slits before reaching a screen. Rather than just one band of light, bands of […]
Read morePosted on: Thursday, May 12th, 2022 In: Deep Dive into Optics
An objective lens is an important component of a microscopy or imaging system for a range of science research, biological, industrial, and general lab applications. An objective lens is located closest to the object and plays a central role in imaging an object onto the human eye or an image sensor for discerning the object’s […]
Read morePosted on: Thursday, May 5th, 2022 In: News & Events
Shanghai Optics is continuously monitoring the latest news about the COVID-19 situation. That’s why we are doing all we can to make sure all our locations are 100% operational – manufacturing, logistics, engineering services, sales and sales support. We will continue to share information with our customers and provide the top-notch customer service that […]
Read morePosted on: Friday, April 29th, 2022 In: Learning Optics with Austin
Besides explaining rainbows, why model light as a wave? The particle model of light is usually drawn with a particle traveling as a ray. Just by staring at a candle or light bulb however, we know that light travels in all directions. It would be impossible to draw out infinite rays traveling in all directions, […]
Read morePosted on: Friday, April 22nd, 2022 In: Deep Dive into Optics
Electromagnetic spectrum covers many wavelength regions from Gamma ray, X ray, ultraviolet (UV), visible light, infrared (IR) to radio wave. Visible light is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that the human eye is capable of detecting. Visible light has a wavelength range from 380 to 780nm and different wavelengths appear to human eye as […]
Read morePosted on: Friday, April 15th, 2022 In: Learning Optics with Austin
In “What is Light?”, we described light as both a wave and a particle under the conditions of the wave-particle duality. In the previous posts, we have mostly modeled light as a ray when discussing reflection and refraction. Only when we talk about diffraction and wavelength do we mention the wave property of light. While […]
Read morePosted on: Monday, April 4th, 2022 In: Learning Optics with Austin
Besides lenses and mirrors, prisms are another group of common optical elements. White light that enters a prism leaves as many different colors due to the different refractive indexes of each color’s wavelength (a topic that will be covered in further depth in the next post). Besides refracting white light, prisms have another useful property […]
Read morePosted on: Monday, March 21st, 2022 In: Learning Optics with Austin
In the previous post, we looked at how changing the focal lengths produced different images (and virtual images) for SINGLE lenses. Sometimes, however, a system of lenses is needed to produce a desired image. A system is composed of two or more lenses assembled together. A good example of a system is the eyepiece of […]
Read morePosted on: Saturday, March 5th, 2022 In: Learning Optics with Austin
Focal length is important not just in terms of positive and negative. For convex lenses, different focal lengths can have drastically different images. If an object (u) is at a distance greater than two times its focal length (2f), then its image focal length (v) is between f and 2f (written as f < v […]
Read morePosted on: Friday, February 18th, 2022 In: Learning Optics with Austin
The properties of light evident in nature are utilized by humans through instruments such as lenses and mirrors. While one might think that glass is the main material used to make lenses, resin has become the most common material due to its lightness yet hardness (resistance to scratching). Lenses refract light while mirrors reflect light. […]
Read morePosted on: Friday, February 4th, 2022 In: Learning Optics with Austin
Why does a pencil look like it is snapped in half when partially placed in a container of water? The short answer is refraction. A more detailed explanation is that the rays of light bends when they pass from one medium to another. This bending of light from air to water produces a virtual image […]
Read morePosted on: Monday, January 24th, 2022 In: Learning Optics with Austin
A total solar eclipse is perhaps one of the most dramatic examples of a shadow. When the moon is positioned between the earth and the sun, the moon’s shadow is cast onto the earth forming an outer shadow experiencing a partial eclipse and an inner shadow experiencing a total eclipse. A Total Solar Eclipse. [1] […]
Read morePosted on: Thursday, January 13th, 2022 In: News & Events
Visit Booth #352 for the latest updates on our products and services or to discuss how we can help you make your upcoming projects successful. Click here for more information. Meet the Shanghai Optics Team
Read morePosted on: Monday, January 10th, 2022 In: Learning Optics with Austin
Light that the human eye can see is just a small sliver of the electromagnetic spectrum. We use wavelength (λ), measured in nanometers (nm) or micrometers (1 μm = 1000 nm), to distinguish and describe the types of light. Visible light lies in the range of 380 nm to 780 nm with ultraviolet light being […]
Read morePosted on: Monday, January 10th, 2022 In: Profiles
Hello! My name is Austin and I am the host for this blog. I graduated from Rutgers in May 2021 with a Bachelor’s degree in Statistics-Mathematics and History. I interned during the summer of 2021 at Shanghai Optics working on data cleaning and analysis. I was later offered to work full-time starting in September. While […]
Read morePosted on: Monday, January 3rd, 2022 In: Learning Optics with Austin
Optics is the study of light. The root of the word “opt” relates to the eye and vision, while the suffix “ics” refers to a science or discipline. [1] With that enLIGHTenment, a discussion about optics is often a discussion about light, its behaviors, and its properties. One common starting point is to ask “What […]
Read more