New Products

Designed as a miniaturized surface-mount device for infrared detection in sensing applications, OPTEK Technology (Carrollton, TX) has developed a series of NPN silicon phototransistors in 1206 chip packages. The devices are packaged with a flat molded lens; the OP520 features an opaque lens to shield it from ambient light, while the OP521 lens is water clear, giving it a wider response range. The devices exhibit response times of 15 µs with peak response to 880-nm light. Electrical performance of the OP520/521 Series is characterized by collector-emitter voltages of 30 V, emitter-collector voltage of 5 V, collector current of 20 mA and power dissipation of 75 mW at 25 °C. They are RoHS-compliant and are compatible with high-temperature (260 °C), lead-free soldering processes. Rated for operation from -25 °C to +85 °C, the phototransistors are designed to be mechanically and spectrally matched to OPTEK's OP250 series surface mount infrared LEDs.Scanner Window Glass

The Diamonex Products Division of Morgan Advanced Ceramics (Stourport, Worcestershire, UK) has developed several coated glasses that resist scratching and digs for barcode scanning systems. Diamonex's line of superhard diamond-like coated glass includes Everscan and Aegisglass Plus. Everscan windows exhibit diamond-like properties for the lifetime of the scanner, enabling OEMs to offer a limited lifetime warranty comparable to more expensive windows made from sapphire. The abrasion-resistant qualities of Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) make Aegisglass Plus applicable for laser barcode scanner window applications. With better transmission than Everscan, Aegisglass Plus is guaranteed to resist scratching for up to five years. Diamonex also offers Scanshield glass, which comes with a one-year warranty in bar code scanning applications.

Fiber Laser Design Software

Application Designer v3.0 from Liekki (Lohja, Finland) is a simulation and design software environment for fiber lasers and amplifiers with new transient analysis capability. The software provides the ability to simulate the dynamic regime and transients of active components and new components such as time-dependent signal sources and optical modulators. The new software upgrade also includes the ability to calculate non-linear effect thresholds such as Brillouin scattering and Raman scattering, and the effect of refractive index variation with optical power density. The software suite also offers an improved user interface and reporting tools.

Mikron Infrared's (Oakland, NJ) M7500 infrared camera is configurable for midwave or longwave infrared (MWIR/LWIR) imaging as well as four different temperature bands, without requiring cryogenic cooling. The M7500 can image in the MWIR bands of 3.9 microns (furnaces and boilers through flames) and 4.8 µm to 5.2 µm (for glass), across a temperature range of 400 °C to 1600 °C. The M7500 also features two standard temperature ranges of -40 °C to °120 °C, and 0 °C to 500 °C in 8-µm to 14-µm LWIR mode, which is designed for making thermal measurements independent of sunlight or factory lighting. The camera offers temperature measurement accuracy of ±2 °C for applications in glass, ceramics, food processing, paper, textiles, electronics, and hydrocarbon/chemical processing. The M7500 includes a 320 × 240-element VOX microbolometer detector and 100Base-T Ethernet. It comes standard with NEMA 4 (IP67) housing rated for ambient temperatures of -15 °C to 50 °C; an optional high-temperature protective housing raises exposure rating to 100 °C.

Leica Geosystems (Unterentfelden, Switzerland) has released several laser trackers, ranging from portable units to large-scale units designed for the automotive and aerospace industries. The LT640 Leica Laser Tracker is optimized for corner cube reflector inspection within a measurement volume of up to 40 m. The LTD706 short-range laser tracker is intended for portable CMM jobs within a measurement radius of 6 m. The LTD709 was designed for the automotive industry, offering a measurement radius of up to 9 m for PCMM applications, an increase of 25 percent over the model it replaces. At the same time, LTD709 has a measurement volume of 25 m when used with a corner cube reflector. Designed for aerospace applications, the LTD840 has a probing measurement range of up to 15 m, which translates into a measurement volume of up to 30 m when used with a T-Probe; LTD840's measurement range reaches a full 40 m when used with a corner cube reflector. The T-Probe II "Walk-Around" solution offers improved accuracy, a ten-fold increase in the point rate output, and user-assignable multi-function buttons.