Hong-Ou-Mandel

These are very interesting beam splitters. You can think of them as selective mirrors (actually, some vendors sell them as dichroic mirrors and others as dichroic beams splitters). The idea is that these optical elements have a cut-off wavelength. So light above their threshold will be transmitted and wavelengths below them will be reflected. These beam splitters are widely used in scanning microscope designs and confocal microscopes.

This animation shows a representation of the different wavelengths present in sunlight. When all of the different wavelengths (colors) come together, you get white light. Image credit: NASA

Wollaston prism

Beam splitters are a fundamental element in optical systems. Beam splitters are, in essence, optical components used to divide a single light source (usually a laser) into two separate beams. The more common kind of beam splitters (the kind that you can find in most colleges or labs) is a beam splitter that can split the light source into two beams regardless of the light source’s wavelength or polarization.

A laser is different. Lasers do not occur in nature. However, we have figured ways to artificially create this special type of light. Lasers produce a narrow beam of light in which all of the light waves have very similar wavelengths. The laser’s light waves travel together with their peaks all lined up, or in phase. This is why laser beams are very narrow, very bright, and can be focused into a very tiny spot.

NASA missions have used lasers to study the gases in Earth’s atmosphere. Lasers have also been used in instruments that map the surfaces of planets, moons, and asteroids.

Lasers have many uses. They are used in precision tools and can cut through diamonds or thick metal. They can also be designed to help in delicate surgeries. Lasers are used for recording and retrieving information. They are used in communications and in carrying TV and internet signals. We also find them in laser printers, bar code scanners, and DVD players. They also help to make parts for computers and other electronics.

They can be shaped as a cube or a plate and their price can be just a couple of hundred dollars in low volume and a few dollars in production volume (although, as with many optical components the price is strongly tied to the size of the component).

Quantum mechanical losslessbeamsplitter su 2 symmetry and photon statistics

Lasers are also used in instruments called spectrometers. Spectrometers can help scientists figure out what things are made of. For example, the Curiosity rover uses a laser spectrometer to see what kinds of chemicals are in certain rocks on Mars.

The working principles of a diffractive beam splitter are similar to diffraction grating. In the case of DOE however, the diffraction grating grooves have a more complex shape (in the case of 1D array) or the DOE can have a complex binary or analog format surface with a 3D periodic structure. The diffractive beam splitter allows the creation of any type of spot arrays (1D, 2D, or irregular) while maintaining high efficiency and uniform distribution of energy in the spots.

Each color of light has a different wavelength. For example, blue light has a shorter wavelength than red light. Sunlight—and the typical light from a lightbulb—is made up of light with many different wavelengths. Our eyes see this mixture of wavelengths as white light.

Beamsplitter Hamiltonian

Depending of your application, you may benefit by using some custom made beam splitters. If you would like more information, please contact us.

With over 15 years of experience and 500+ unique optical systems designed, Optics for Hire specializes in advanced optical engineering. If it uses light, we've worked on it.

Mach-Zehnder interferometer

Scientists have even measured the distance between the moon and Earth using lasers! By measuring the amount of time it takes for a laser beam to travel to the moon and back, astronomers can tell exactly how far away it is!

Because laser light stays focused and does not spread out much (like a flashlight would), laser beams can travel very long distances. They can also concentrate a lot of energy on a very small area.

A diffractive beam splitter is a diffractive optical element (DOE) used to split a single collimated laser beam into several beams with the same optical characteristics as the original beam. Beams are usually separated into 1D or 2D arrays and may be arranged regularly or irregularly. A diffractive beam splitter is used with monochromatic light (such as a laser beam) and is designed for a specific wavelength and angle of separation between output beams.

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These beam splitters divide the incoming light into two beams with different polarizations. You have to be careful when orienting these beam splitters to determine which polarization (S- or P-) will be transmitted and which one will be reflected. A very interesting way to create the polarizing effect is by placing an array of metallic wires between two BK-7 (or different glass) prisms. A further advantage of using this wired grid is that the Beam splitters will have a larger angle of incidence than traditional beam splitters based on thin-film elements.

Polarizingbeamsplitter

It is possible to design a beam splitter whose split beams don’t have equal amount of light intensity. For example, a 10:90 (RT) beam splitter will provide you with a reflected beam with 10% of the source intensity and 90% of the source intensity will be in the transmitted beam. Similarly, you can have any possible ratio, although the most common off-the-shelf ratios are: 10:90, 30:70, and 50:50.

This is a picture of Martian soil before (left) and after (right) it was zapped by the Curiosity rover’s laser instrument called ChemCam. By zapping tiny holes in Martian soil and rock, ChemCam can determine what the material is made of. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/ CNES/IRAP/LPGN/CNRS

Thorlabsbeamsplitter

Depending on the material and thin-films used to fabricate the beam splitter, you can have an optical element that works in a very specific region of the electromagnetic spectrum. As in many other optical components, these bands are usually: 280-400nm for UV, 400-700 nm for visible, 700-1100nm for NIR, and 1100-1600 for IR.

However, it is possible to create more interesting beam splitters that can be used for very specific applications. Here are just a few different kinds of beam splitters:

With over 20 years of experience and 800+ unique optical systems designed, Optics for Hire specializes in advanced optical engineering. If it uses light, we've worked on it.

The letters in the word laser stand for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. A laser is an unusual light source. It is quite different from a light bulb or a flash light. Lasers produce a very narrow beam of light. This type of light is useful for lots of technologies and instruments—even some that you might use at home!