Features

Dr. Dale P. Cruikshank, Astronomer and Planetary Scientist, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA

Dale P. Cruikshank is an astronomer and planetary scientist in the Astrophysics Branch at Ames Research Center. His research specialties...

Adhesives for Optical Assembly

Adhesives deliver excellent performance on a range of materials used to manufacture optical components, including glass, metal, ceramic and most plastics. By their very nature, adhesives allow devices to be made...

Motion Control Requirements for Medical Instruments

Medical equipment motion control runs the gamut from electric wheelchair motion to heart assist pumps. This article will focus on the segment consisting of medical laboratory instruments. Even...

Motors Keep Telescope Operating in Record-Low Antarctic Temperatures

At Concordia Station in Antarctica, there is a telescope mount that has been operating for a few years. Recently, there was a new record temperature at the Dome C site: -84.6...

Robots and Vision Combine for Accurate Sheet Metal Cutting

In the general construction industry, many different parts are cut from sheet metal and then welded together on a large machine or vehicle. The trouble arises when the sheets are placed...

Multi-Axis Servo Drive

Galil Motion Control (Rocklin, CA) has announced the AMP- 43240 4-axis servo drive that provides up to 750W per axis. It resides inside the DMC-4040 or DMC-4143 4-axis motion controller enclosure. The packaging of the...

Motor-Control Module

STMicroelectronics (Geneva, Switzerland), has announced the SPIMD20 motor-control module that mounts directly on the motor, in addition to providing connection via industrial Ethernet. The unit can drive brushless 3-phase...

DC Gear Motors

Nidec Copal (USA) Corp. (Torrance, CA) has introduced a RoHS family of four 12-mm miniature DC gear motors that develop high shaft torque ranging from 0.28 oz-in to 6.94 oz-in. Rated shaft speeds range from 1400 rpm to 40 rpm....

Accelerometer

Dytran Instruments (Chatsworth, CA) has introduced the model 3091A, an IEPE accelerometer. It is offered with a range of 500g, 100 mV/g sensitivity, and an upper frequency response of 1,000 Hz (±5%). As an IEPE sensor, the...

Planetary Gearheads

A series of RTX precision planetary gearheads from Sterling Instrument (New Hyde Park, NY) features high-torque design and are offered in standard NEMA sizes 60 and 90. These 36 gearheads, identified as the S9160AMRTX and...

Speed Controller

The C100A Variable Speed Controller from Fluid Metering (Syosset, NY) provides a control interface for the company’s Variable Speed Pumps. The C100A features both manual speed adjustment using a front-panelmounted rotary...

Control Module

The ACOPOSmicro from B&R Industrial Automation Corp. (Roswell, GA) offers support for two servo motors, allowing users to integrate different drive types. The architecture enables changeover from a stepper to a servo motor, and...

Linear Stage and Driver

Newport Corp. (Irvine, CA) offers the CONEX-AGP controller preconfigured with an Agilis™ AG-LS25-27P linear stage that includes a miniature, built-in, direct-read linear encoder. The stage combines a piezo motor linear...

Linear Stepper Motors

Johnson Electric (Vandalia, OH) has introduced the Saia® ULE Series linear stepper motors. Available in unipolar or bipolar configurations, the motors provide constant positioning force to 400 N over full travel lengths...

Encoders

Oriental Motor (Torrance, CA) offers encoder options for 0.36º and 0.72º stepping motors. The stepping motors are available as a stepping motor only, or as a stepping motor and driver package. The new stepping motor encoder options...

Visible Imager Technology for Euclid’s Dark Energy Mission

The European Space Agency is funding e2v’s development of an image sensor for the visible instrument in the Euclid space telescope. Euclid is a candidate mission for one of two...

Fiber Laser Cutting System

Hypertherm (Hanover, NH) has released the HyIntensity™ Fiber Laser HFL015 cutting system, which includes a power source, cutting head, gas supply, operator interface consoles, motion controls, and software, all in...

Infrared LEDs

A set of surface-mount, high-output infrared LEDs from ROHM Semiconductor (San Diego, CA) can be used in proximity sensor applications. The SIM-030/031ST and SIM-040/041ST surface-mount IR LEDs feature IR wavelength technology...

Spectral Reflectivity Measurement System

Olympus Corp. (Center Valley, PA) has introduced a spectral reflectivity measurement system designed for use with lenses, prisms, flat glass, plastics, and electronic components produced by optical...

Vibration Isolation Workstation

The new Vision IsoStation vibration isolation workstation from Newport Corporation (Irvine, CA) is designed to improve ease-of-installation, setup, and lab space utilization. The workstation is available with...

Laser Power/Energy Sensor Shock Absorber

Ophir Photonics Group (Logan, UT) has announced the Shock Absorber, a mounting post designed to allow the operation of sensitive pyroelectric laser power/energy sensors in an environment with vibration....

f/#1.0 Athermalised LWIR Lens

LightPath Technologies (Orlando, FL) has introduced an f/#1.0 athermalised long wave infrared (LWIR) lens assembly with 10.65mm focal length, developed for uncooled infrared sensors using 8μm — 12μm infrared...

Pulsed Laser Driver

ILX Lightwave Corporation (Bozeman, MT) has released the LDP-3832 Pulsed Quantum Cascade Laser Driver. The LDP-3832 is designed specifically for quantum cascade lasers used in absorption spectroscopy applications and...

Industrial Microscope Module

Carl Zeiss (Thornwood, NY) has introduced the Axio Imager Vario, a microscope module for industrial tasks where large samples requiring various contrasting methods, such as solar cells, wafers, flat panel screens or...

Photodiode Detectors

Hinds Instruments (Hillsboro, OR) has introduced a new generation photodiode detector family, the DET-200 series. Used in labs worldwide, Hinds’ detection systems are specifically designed for use with optical signals...

Single Fiber Assemblies

Allowing the use of fiber optics in potentially damaging environments, Fiberguide Industries (Stirling, NJ) has introduced its new standard line of single fiber assemblies. For general purpose use, Fiberguide’s...

XYZ Piezo Flexure Stage

PI’s (Auburn, MA) P-563.3CD PIMars stage is a piezo flexure-guided scanning/ nanomanipulation system. The unit enables precision motion control with resolution in the sub-nanometer realm and 340 × 340 × 340 μm...

Inspection Station

The LF210 Inspection Station from Prior Scientific (Rockland, MA) is an automated inspection platform suitable for most industrial samples with moderate to high reflectivity. Samples placed on the inspection station’s...

High Precision Aspheres

Optimax (Ontario, NY) is a manufacturing company that provides rapid prototyping of precision optical components in sizes up to 300mm. Optimax specializes in asphere, cylinder, sphere, and plano/flat optics. All parts...