In optics, a window is an optical element that is transparent to a range of wavelengths, and that has no optical power. Windows may be flat or curved. They are used to block the flow of air or other fluids while allowing light to pass into or out of an optical system.
In general, an optical window is a material that allows light into an optical instrument. The material has to be transparent to a wavelength range of interest but not necessarily to visible light. [1] Usually, it is mechanically flat and sometimes it also is optically flat, depending on resolution requirements. [2] A window of this sort is commonly parallel [1] and is likely to be anti-reflection coated, especially if it is designed for visible light. [3] An optical window may be built into a piece of equipment (such as a vacuum chamber) to allow optical instruments to view inside that equipment. [4]
Optical windows used for UV/VIS spectroscopy, are usually made from glass or fused silica. [5] In IR spectroscopy, there is a wide range of materials that transmit light into the far infrared and can be utilized for the construction of optical windows, from barium fluoride (BaF2), calcium fluoride, potassium bromide, potassium chloride, sodium chloride, germanium (Ge), zinc selenide (ZnSe) and sapphire. [6] [7] These windows are either built into circular, elliptical or rectangular configurations. [8]
Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 terahertz. The visible band sits adjacent to the infrared and the ultraviolet, called collectively optical radiation.
The visible spectrum is the band of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to the human eye. Electromagnetic radiation in this range of wavelengths is called visible light . The optical spectrum is sometimes considered to be the same as the visible spectrum, but some authors define the term more broadly, to include the ultraviolet and infrared parts of the electromagnetic spectrum as well, known collectively as optical radiation.
Fluorite (also called fluorspar) is the mineral form of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It belongs to the halide minerals. It crystallizes in isometric cubic habit, although octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon.
Ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometry refers to absorption spectroscopy or reflectance spectroscopy in part of the ultraviolet and the full, adjacent visible regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Being relatively inexpensive and easily implemented, this methodology is widely used in diverse applied and fundamental applications. The only requirement is that the sample absorb in the UV-Vis region, i.e. be a chromophore. Absorption spectroscopy is complementary to fluorescence spectroscopy. Parameters of interest, besides the wavelength of measurement, are absorbance (A) or transmittance (%T) or reflectance (%R), and its change with time.
The optical window is the portion of the optical spectrum that is not blocked by the Earth's atmosphere. The window runs from around 300 nanometers (ultraviolet-B) up into the range the human eye can detect, roughly 400–700 nm and continues up to approximately 2 μm. Sunlight mostly reaches the ground through the optical atmospheric window; the Sun is particularly active in most of this range.
In the field of optics, transparency is the physical property of allowing light to pass through the material without appreciable scattering of light. On a macroscopic scale, the photons can be said to follow Snell's law. Translucency allows light to pass through but does not necessarily follow Snell's law; the photons can be scattered at either of the two interfaces, or internally, where there is a change in the index of refraction. In other words, a translucent material is made up of components with different indices of refraction. A transparent material is made up of components with a uniform index of refraction. Transparent materials appear clear, with the overall appearance of one color, or any combination leading up to a brilliant spectrum of every color. The opposite property of translucency is opacity. Other categories of visual appearance, related to the perception of regular or diffuse reflection and transmission of light, have been organized under the concept of cesia in an order system with three variables, including transparency, translucency and opacity among the involved aspects.
Spectrophotometry is a branch of electromagnetic spectroscopy concerned with the quantitative measurement of the reflection or transmission properties of a material as a function of wavelength. Spectrophotometry uses photometers, known as spectrophotometers, that can measure the intensity of a light beam at different wavelengths. Although spectrophotometry is most commonly applied to ultraviolet, visible, and infrared radiation, modern spectrophotometers can interrogate wide swaths of the electromagnetic spectrum, including x-ray, ultraviolet, visible, infrared, and/or microwave wavelengths.
An optical coating is one or more thin layers of material deposited on an optical component such as a lens, prism or mirror, which alters the way in which the optic reflects and transmits light. These coatings have become a key technology in the field of optics. One type of optical coating is an anti-reflective coating, which reduces unwanted reflections from surfaces, and is commonly used on spectacle and camera lenses. Another type is the high-reflector coating, which can be used to produce mirrors that reflect greater than 99.99% of the light that falls on them. More complex optical coatings exhibit high reflection over some range of wavelengths, and anti-reflection over another range, allowing the production of dichroic thin-film filters.
Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a spectroscopic method that uses the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Typical applications include medical and physiological diagnostics and research including blood sugar, pulse oximetry, functional neuroimaging, sports medicine, elite sports training, ergonomics, rehabilitation, neonatal research, brain computer interface, urology, and neurology. There are also applications in other areas as well such as pharmaceutical, food and agrochemical quality control, atmospheric chemistry, combustion research and knowledge.
Magnesium fluoride is an ionically bonded inorganic compound with the formula MgF2. The compound is a colorless to white crystalline salt and is transparent over a wide range of wavelengths, with commercial uses in optics that are also used in space telescopes. It occurs naturally as the rare mineral sellaite.
Caesium iodide or cesium iodide is the ionic compound of caesium and iodine. It is often used as the input phosphor of an X-ray image intensifier tube found in fluoroscopy equipment. Caesium iodide photocathodes are highly efficient at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths.
Lithium fluoride is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula LiF. It is a colorless solid that transitions to white with decreasing crystal size. Its structure is analogous to that of sodium chloride, but it is much less soluble in water. It is mainly used as a component of molten salts. Partly because Li and F are both light elements, and partly because F2 is highly reactive, formation of LiF from the elements releases one of the highest energies per mass of reactants, second only to that of BeO.
An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidths than electrical cables. Fibers are used instead of metal wires because signals travel along them with less loss and are immune to electromagnetic interference. Fibers are also used for illumination and imaging, and are often wrapped in bundles so they may be used to carry light into, or images out of confined spaces, as in the case of a fiberscope. Specially designed fibers are also used for a variety of other applications, such as fiber optic sensors and fiber lasers.
Strontium fluoride, SrF2, also called strontium difluoride and strontium(II) fluoride, is a fluoride of strontium. It is a brittle white crystalline solid. In nature, it appears as the very rare mineral strontiofluorite.
Barium fluoride is an inorganic compound with the formula BaF2. It is a colorless solid that occurs in nature as the rare mineral frankdicksonite. Under standard conditions it adopts the fluorite structure and at high pressure the PbCl2 structure. Like CaF2, it is resilient to and insoluble in water.
The absorption of electromagnetic radiation by water depends on the state of the water.
Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) is a technique used to obtain an infrared spectrum of absorption or emission of a solid, liquid, or gas. An FTIR spectrometer simultaneously collects high-resolution spectral data over a wide spectral range. This confers a significant advantage over a dispersive spectrometer, which measures intensity over a narrow range of wavelengths at a time.
Fluoride glass is a class of non-oxide optical glasses composed of fluorides of various metals. They can contain heavy metals such as zirconium, or be combined with lighter elements like aluminium and beryllium. These heavier elements cause the glass to have a transparency range extended into the infrared wavelength.
Diffuse optical imaging (DOI) is a method of imaging using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) or fluorescence-based methods. When used to create 3D volumetric models of the imaged material DOI is referred to as diffuse optical tomography, whereas 2D imaging methods are classified as diffuse optical imaging.
Time-domain diffuse optics or time-resolved functional near-infrared spectroscopy is a branch of functional near-Infrared spectroscopy which deals with light propagation in diffusive media. There are three main approaches to diffuse optics namely continuous wave (CW), frequency domain (FD) and time-domain (TD). Biological tissue in the range of red to near-infrared wavelengths are transparent to light and can be used to probe deep layers of the tissue thus enabling various in vivo applications and clinical trials.