Bullseye® Apodizing Filters: Balances Undesirable Intensity Variations in Optical Systems

Date Announced: 04 Feb 2015

Reynard Corporation, a leading global supplier of optical components and thin film coatings, announces the Bullseye® apodizing neutral density filter. This filter is part of the Bullseye® apodizer line of customizable gradient filters. These filters eliminate undesirable intensity variations in optical systems. The density of the filter decreases radially from a dark center, where light is usually at its peak intensity, to the outside edge, where it can become completely transparent.

The Bullseye® apodizing filter can be designed for any Gaussian function regardless to the size of the beam. The filters are produced on a custom basis, as uniformity variations, substrate type, and bandwidth are a function of the customer’s specific optical requirement.

Key features include:

• Density gradients can be customized to suit any application
• The filter can be applied to a number of different substrate types
• Can be designed to be used from the UV to the Far IR.

Inserting a Bullseye® apodizing filter at the aperture stop of your imaging system modifies the intensity variations of your light source which can result in a flat top distribution. “Instead of spending effort searching for ideal light sources for your specific application, a Bullseye® ND filter can be used to solve basic light distribution problems, saving both time and money” says Forrest Reynard, President of Reynard Corporation.

Application examples are found in diverse industries, such as:

• Entertainment - To make light distribution uneven for cosmetic applications.
• Imaging - To break up diffraction patterns by the introduction of soft edges.
• Industrial - To control the light emission from an automatic welding torch to a CCD camera. The filter is used in series with an iris in camera to eliminate detector saturation so that the welding operation can be viewed real time.
• Military - To eliminate IR detector saturation in ground-to-air and air-to-air missiles.
• Scientific - Used as a variable phase plate when the gradient coating material has the same index of refraction as the substrate.
• Semiconductor - Used in photolithography exposing systems to obtain perfect illumination distribution.

Contact

E-mail: rhooper@reynardcorp.com

Web Site: www.reynardcorp.com