A spatial filter is made by forming a structure comprising a focusing element and an opaque surface, the opaque surface being disposed remotely from the focusing element in substantially the same plane as a focal plane of the focusing element; and by forming a pinhole in the opaque surface at or adjacent to a focal point of the focusing element by transmitting a substantially collimated laser beam through the focusing element so that a point optimally corresponding to the focal point is identified on the opaque surface and imperfection of the focusing element, if any, is reflected on the shape and position of the pinhole so formed.

An assembly for collimating broadband radiation, the assembly including: a convex refractive singlet lens having a first spherical surface for coupling the broadband radiation into the lens and a second spherical surface for coupling the broadband radiation out of the lens, wherein the first and second spherical surfaces have a common center; and a mount for holding the convex refractive singlet lens at a plurality of contact points having a centroid coinciding with the common center.

The optical interrogation technique can use an optical prism having two opposite sides including a sample side and a refraction side, the sample side having a plurality of interrogation areas; a source assembly generating a collimated field of illumination directed towards the refraction side; a screen disposed in a screen plane intersecting the field of illumination and shielding the refraction side from the field of illumination, the screen having an aperture allowing a portion of the field of illumination to reach and be refracted by the refraction side, be totally internally reflected at one of said interrogation areas of the sample side, thereby generating a signal, the signal refracted back through the aperture, the screen being movable within the screen plane to shift the aperture and expose different portions of the field of illumination to corresponding ones of the interrogation areas.

The optical inspection device is used for inspecting a planar object surface for the presence of particles and/or defects. A light source supplies light to the planar object surface of the object at a grazing angle. An image sensor receives light due to scattering from particles and defects on the object surface. The optical axis of the objective is at non-zero angles with the normal to the planar object surface and a direction or directions of specular reflection of the light from the light source by the planar object surface. A detection surface of the image detection device and the optical axis of the objective is in a Scheimpflug configuration. The light source and image sensor are located outside a space extending perpendicularly from the planar object surface, on opposite sides of that space. The image sensor comprises an objective and an image detection device. The device may further comprise a microscope or spectrometer to access the object surface through said space.

A hyperspectral imaging apparatus based on a monolithic or free space optical spatial heterodyne spectrometer (SHS) design, array detector, electromagnetic radiation source, and optical collection element is described. The apparatus enables the simultaneous acquisition of spatially isolated Fizeau fringe patterns, each having an encoded light product that is decoded to produce a spectral fingerprint of the interrogated object. Features specific to the SHS, such as a large entrance aperture, large acceptance angle, and no moving parts, enable a variety of optical collection schemes including lens arrays, solid-core and hollow core waveguides, and others. In one example, a microlens array (MLA) is configured with the hyperspectral imaging apparatus to simultaneously image many hundred spatially isolated Fizeau fringe patterns while interrogating an object using an electromagnetic radiation source. Each Fizeau fringe pattern recorded by the array detector is decoded to produce a full Raman or laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) spectrum. Compared to prior art, the hyperspectral imaging apparatus overcomes the primary limitations of needing to trade time resolution for both spectral and spatial data density because the imaging apparatus simultaneously acquires both spectral and special information. Based on the selection and configuration of diffraction gratings, the grating aperture size, Littrow wavelength (i.e., heterodyne wavelength), and optical collection configuration, the apparatus can be tailored to produced low or high spectral resolution with a spectral bandpass that covers a portion or the entire Raman spectral range (up to 4200 cm.sup.−1) and for LIBS as well.

An LED matrix lighting device for illuminating a lighting pattern with even intensity. The LED matrix lighting device includes a plurality of LEDs, a collimating lens in front of each LED for collimating light of the LED, and a light refracting element in front of collimating lenses arranged to refract light of at least a first part of the LEDs with a different refraction angle than at least a second part of the LEDs. The disclosure further relates to a machine vision system, a method, and a computer program product.

A digital speckle pattern interferometer (DSPI) is provided for long-range measurement of displacement of materials within a hazardous environments. A test arm of a portion of coherent beam from a laser is aimed at a selected angle to traverse a distance to a test surface. An input collimator has a lens wide enough to receive a reflected beam from the test surface and is focused at a corresponding distance. The reflected beam is combined with a reference beam split from the coherent radiation onto a camera for measuring displacement of the test surface based on an electronic speckle pattern interferometer (ESPI).

A laser detection system comprises a sample chamber configured to receive and contain a volume of sample gas, one or more lasers within at least one laser housing, wherein each laser is configured to produce a respective laser beam for excitation of one or more different materials in the sample gas and the one or more lasers are outside the sample chamber, a detector apparatus for detecting light output from the sample chamber, a first optical interface to the sample chamber having at least one window that is at least partially transparent to the laser beams from the one or more lasers, wherein the at least one laser housing is positioned in a close-coupling arrangement relative to the at least one window of the first optical interface such that, in use, the laser beams are substantially unmodified by passage between the laser housing and the at least one window.

A system for imaging, including a source of coherent light; a polarization state generator for generating polarized optical photons from the light originating in the source of coherent light; a sample environment; a polarization state analyzer for permitting photons having a desired polarization to interact with a detector; and an imaging unit for generating an image based on the interactions of the photons with the detector. The sample environment includes a plurality of electromagnets, each connected to one or more power supply components; and a controller, connected to the electromagnets and including software for generating and controlling a desired magnetic field created by each of the electromagnets in concert with each other.

A method and a system for illuminating a substrate, the system may include an acousto-optic device (AOD); and an etendue expanding optical module. The AOD may include a surface having an illuminated region; wherein the illuminated region is configured to receive a collimated input beam while being fed with a control signal that causes the illuminated region to output illuminated region output beams that are collimated and exhibit deflection angles that scan, during a scan period, a deflection angular range. The etendue expanding optical module is configured to convert the illuminated region output beams to collimated output beams that impinge on an output aperture; wherein a collimated output beam has a width that exceeds a width of an illuminated region output beam; and wherein the etendue expanding optical module comprises a Dammann grating that is configured to output diffraction patterns, each diffraction pattern comprises diffraction orders that cover a continuous angular range.