Optical Design Projects: Design, Build & Test

Q: What does an optical system design project with IZAK include?

A typical project covers the review of candidate components and technologies, the optical and opto-mechanical design, a prototype, a test plan, the measurements themselves and a written report. You can start at any stage: some customers bring a finished design that needs verification, others start from a requirement sheet.

Q: Can you test an optical component or device we already selected?

Yes. We review the device against your requirements, design the experiment, run the tests in our lab and report the measured performance with the method, set-up and uncertainty, so the result can go into your Design History File.

Q: Which wavelengths can you measure?

Our own laser beam profilers cover UV–VIS–NIR from 300 to 1100 nm, SWIR up to 2.05 µm, MWIR from 1.5 to 5.7 µm and LWIR from 7.7 to 12 µm. For spectral and radiometric work we build multi-channel spectro-radiometers matched to the bands of the project.

Q: Do you only design, or can you also build test stations for production?

Both. Several projects on this page started as a one-off lab measurement and became a production test jig: a fixture, the measurement instrument and software with pass/fail limits and reports.

Q: How do we start?

Book a 20-minute call or send the requirement in the contact form: wavelength or band, power or energy, beam or field size, environment and what you need to prove. We reply with the questions that matter and a proposed approach.

Optical System Design Projects: Design, Build and Test

Real optical and electro-optical projects, from the first requirement to a tested system and a report you can file.

Each project on this page started with a measurement problem: light that had to reach a slit, a fiber or a detector, a beam that had to be uniform, or a spectrum that had to be measured in several bands at once. We show what the problem was, what we designed and how we proved it works. Most of these projects run on, or led to, the measurement instruments we make ourselves.

ISO 9001:2015Optics + opto-mechanicsPrototype and testUV to LWIR

How a design-and-test project runs

The subject can be an optical component, an optical device, a sensor or a light source. The steps are the same, and each one ends with something you can review.

Requirement and subjectWe define what the component, device, sensor or light source must do, under which conditions, and which numbers prove it.

Device and technology reviewWe compare the available devices and technologies against the requirement and recommend the best fit for performance, cost and supply.

Design of experimentsWe plan how each function will be measured: set-up, reference, sample size, environment and the expected uncertainty.

TestingWe run the tests in our lab with calibrated instruments and our own beam profilers and spectro-radiometers, and record every result.

Report for your DHFA complete report of method, set-up, raw and analysed results and conclusions, ready for your Design History File.

A multi-channel spectro-radiometer with three telescopes

The customer needed to measure the spectrum of a source at a distance in several spectral bands at the same moment, including fast events. One instrument could not cover all the bands with good sensitivity, so we designed three telescope channels, each with its own spectrometer and detector for its band, aligned to a common line of sight.

The key design problem was uniform response: a target that moves inside the field of view must give the same reading. A field lens in each telescope spreads the light evenly on the entrance optics, so the response stays within 10% across a narrow field of tens of milliradians. Replaceable neutral-density filters extend the dynamic range, and a boresight indicator aligns all channels to the target.

The result became a product: the IZAK Multi-Channel Spectro-Radiometer, configured per project with the bands and channels you need.

3 channelsone telescope and spectrometer per band

<10% non-uniformityacross the field of view

Up to 5 MHzlinear frequency response, flat to −3 dB

Boresightlaser pointer or imager for alignment

Problems we solved, and how

Six short project stories. Each one shows the challenge, the design decision that solved it and the instrument or product it connects to.

Spectroscopy

Coupling light into a spectrometer slit

Challenge: A spectrometer only sees the light that passes its narrow entrance slit at the right angle. Light lost at the slit is signal lost for the whole measurement.
What we did: We set the objective first, then designed relay optics that image the source onto the slit and match the spectrometer’s acceptance angle, so the light fills the slit without overfilling the grating.
Where it led: The same approach is used in every channel of our spectro-radiometers.

Spectro-radiometer

Examples of coupling, decoupling and sampling light to and from optical fiber

Fiber optics

Coupling, decoupling and sampling light in fiber

Challenge: Coupling efficiency into a fiber depends on the numerical aperture of the beam and of the fiber, on the spot size and on alignment. A small mismatch costs a large part of the power.
What we did: We analysed how the light behaves at each interface, matched NA and spot size, and designed couplers, collimators and taps that sample a known fraction of the light for monitoring.
Where it led: Fiber transmission and inspection testers for fiber production lines.

Optical fiber inspection tester

LED field-of-view reducer with a custom molded aspheric lens

LED optics

A low-cost LED field-of-view reducer

Challenge: An LED emits over a wide angle. The product needed a narrow, well-defined beam at a cost that suits volume production.
What we did: We designed the optical layout around a custom aspheric lens: focal length, aperture and position chosen for the target field of view, then adapted the lens for low-cost molded manufacture.
Where it led: Measuring LED angle, intensity and colour is now part of our LED test work.

IZAK test products

Illumination

Uniform illumination from laser diodes

Challenge: Laser-diode beams are elliptical and divergent, unlike the round beams of solid-state or fiber lasers. A simple lens gives a hot spot, not a uniform area.
What we did: We built early prototypes from off-the-shelf optics, measured each iteration with a beam profiler and converged quickly on a layout that gives a uniform field.
Where it led: Fast prototype-and-measure loops with our own beam profilers.

Laser beam profilers

Beam profiler software showing measured values of a CO2 laser beam

Production test

A CO₂ laser test jig that became an LWIR beam profiler

Challenge: In production, small batch-to-batch variations in mounts and optics cause tilt, decentring and spacing errors. The customer needed to check every 10.6 µm CO₂ laser before shipping, at low cost.
What we did: We built a test jig with a low-cost, adaptable beam profiler and software that measures the beam and reports pass or fail.
Where it led: The design grew into our LWIR beam profiler for 7.7–12 µm.

LWIR beam profiler

Selection of optical components: lenses, mirrors, prisms, gratings and fibers

Verification

Choosing and proving a component for a medical device file

Challenge: Several lenses, sensors or light sources looked suitable on paper. The customer had to choose one and prove its performance for the Design History File.
What we did: We reviewed the candidates against the requirement, designed the experiments, measured the functions that matter in our lab and wrote the report with method, data and conclusions.
Where it led: A documented choice, and test methods that can be reused in incoming inspection.

What the report contains

A test report you can file

Medical, defense and communications projects must meet industry standards and regulations. IZAK Scientific is assessed and certified to ISO 9001:2015 for the design and development of electro-optical systems, and every project ends with a report that stands up to review.

Requirement, subject and acceptance criteria

Devices and technologies reviewed, and why one was chosen

Test set-up, instruments and calibration status

Raw data, analysis and measurement uncertainty

Results against the criteria, conclusions and recommendations

Questions about optical design projects

What does an optical system design project with IZAK include?

A typical project covers the review of candidate components and technologies, the optical and opto-mechanical design, a prototype, a test plan, the measurements themselves and a written report. You can start at any stage: some customers bring a finished design that needs verification, others start from a requirement sheet.

Can you test an optical component or device we already selected?

Yes. We review the device against your requirements, design the experiment, run the tests in our lab and report the measured performance with the method, set-up and uncertainty, so the result can go into your Design History File.

Which wavelengths can you measure?

Our own laser beam profilers cover UV–VIS–NIR from 300 to 1100 nm, SWIR up to 2.05 µm, MWIR from 1.5 to 5.7 µm and LWIR from 7.7 to 12 µm. For spectral and radiometric work we build multi-channel spectro-radiometers matched to the bands of the project.

Do you only design, or can you also build test stations for production?

Both. Several projects on this page started as a one-off lab measurement and became a production test jig: a fixture, the measurement instrument and software with pass/fail limits and reports.

How do we start?

Book a 20-minute call or send the requirement in the contact form: wavelength or band, power or energy, beam or field size, environment and what you need to prove. We reply with the questions that matter and a proposed approach.