We have collected information from our own staff of experts and also bookmarked information on the web that is reliable and we can use on a daily basis.
Archived Calculators
Automation, Electronics and Mechanical Parts Catalogs, Data Sheets
- AmazonSupply. - good source for mechanical parts, request a catalog...
- Stock Drive Products - gears, pulley's, shafts...nice catalogs
- W.M. Berg, precision mechanical components - similar to above gears, pulley's, shafts...
- Keystone Electronics Corporation - Big catalog of electrical and electronics
- Digi-Key Corporation - A catalog must have, fast delivery, everything in stock
- Mouser Electronics - Good second source
- Edmund Scientific - optics, solar cells, motor, surplus
- Newark Electronics - Massive catalog of Electrical and electronics
- Jones Stepper Motor Tutorial - from the University of Iowa
- O-ring Size Chart - from Parker
- Screw and Nut Thread Sizes - from the Engineer's Edge
Interferometers and Etalons
- Albert A. Michelson 1852-1931 - Learn all about Mr. Michelson
- Fourier Spectroscopy with a Michelson Interferometer - Lots of info on this topic
- Etalon design calculator - The super popular LightMachinery etalon calculator
- Broadband stability of the Habitable Zone Planet Finder Fabry-Pérot etalon calibration system: evidence for chromatic variation. Terrien, et al.
Historic Optical Papers
- The Newton Project - A great collection of Newton's papers on optics
- Conference on the Michelson-Morley Experiment Held at Mount Wilson,1927
- The Wave Theory of Light - Fresnel (in English)
Optics Catalogs - order the catalogs!
- Melles Griot - Melles Griot
- Edmund Scientific - Edmund Industrial Optics
Optical Materials - Data Sheets
- Calcium Fluoride
- Cleartran (nice ZnS)
- Germanium
- N-LAK-12
- N-LASF-43
- N-BK-7
- N-SF-6
- Standard Fused Silica
- Specialty Fused Silica from Heraeus (Homosil, Infrasil, Suprasil etc)
- UV (KrF) Grade Fused Silica
- Zerodur
- ULE Ultra Low Expansion Glass
- See Also - Schott Technical Information, Temperature Coeffiecient of Refractive Index
Optical Material Manufacturers - Links to their websites
- Corning - Information on the Corning products from polarcor to ULE
- Dynasil - Information on Dynasil
- Ohara - Information on the Ohara glasses including NEX, negative thermal expansion glass
- Heraeus - Information on the Heraeus Amersil glasses including Herasil and Homosil
- Norland - Cement
- Schott Glass,- Information on Schott glasses from Erbium to Zerodur
Organizations
- Optical Society of America - OSA
- SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
- Optics.org - on-line photonics resource from Opto & Laser Europe
- The ITU - International Telecommunication Union
- The ICO -International Commission for Optics
- The USAC-ICO -United States Advisory Committee for the International Commission for Optics
- The OIDA - Optoelectronics Industry Development Association
- APOMA - The American Precision Optics Manufacturers Association
- EOSAM - European Optical Society
- ISO - International Standards Organization
Photonics News
- Lightreading - the essential guide to the latest news in telecom
- Laser Focus World - online
- Photonics.com - the online version of Photonics Spectra
- Optical Manufacturing - online
- Optics Express - The e-journal of the OSA
- OE Magazine - The monthly publication of SPIE
- LightWave Magazine - online
Space and telescopes
- Astronomy Picture of the day - from NASA
- Why is the Sky Blue? - Please stop calling us and refer to this link
- Lagrange Points - L1, L2.. Where the satellites are.
- Telescopes - HOW TO BUILD A TELESCOPE by Giorgio Carboni
VIPA Etalons
- Virtually Imaged Phase Array - Masataka Shirasaki
- Multistage VIPA etalons for high-extinction parallel Brillouin spectroscopy - Giuliano Scarcelli and Seok Hyun Yun
- High-resolution spectral fingerprinting with a stabilized femtosecond laser frequency comb - Scott A. Diddams, Leo Hollberg, and Vela Mbele‡
- Femtosecond pulse shaping in two dimensions: Towards higher complexity optical waveforms - V.R. Supradeepa et al
- Rigorous 3D Vectorial Gaussian Beam Modelling of Demutliplexing Perfrmance of Virtually-Imaged-Phase-Arrays - A. Mokhtari and A. A. Shishegar
- Spatial Chirp Effect in Virtually Imaged Phased Array (VIPA) Wavelength Demultiplexor - Shijun Xiao, A. M. Weiner, C. Lin
- Comment on “Generalized grating equation for virtually imaged phased-array spectral dispersers” - Daniel J. Gauthier
- Combined fluorescence, optical 2 diffraction tomography and Brillouin 3 microscopy. Guck, et al.
Optical Design Tool Users Guides
Recommended Reading
- Elements of Modern Optical Design - This is a very readable book by Don O'Shea on the basics of optical design including ray tracing, simple lens design and laser system design
- Fundamentals of Photonics - This book by Saleh is often open on someone's desk.
- Modern Optical Engineering - Warren J Smith's classic on optical design
- Thin Film Optical Filters - So you want to understand how to design coatings.... read on.
- Modern Lens Design: A Resource Manual - Warren J Smith focuses in on lens design.
- Optical Shop Testing (Wiley Series in Pure and Applied Optics) - Everyone needs a good book on optical testing.
- Polarized Light (Optical Engineering) - It seems that polarization is always the key issue.
- Handbook of Optics, Volume IV - This volume looks at fiber optics, nonlinear optics and communication systems, modulators, amplifiers and detectors. Only volumes IV and III seem to be available on Amazon
- Handbook of Optical Materials - It's all about the materials
- Principles of Optics: Electromagnetic Theory of Propogation, Interference and Diffraction of Light - Hard core physics from Born and Wolf
- Building Electro-Optical Systems: Making It All Work - Recommended by a visitor to our website this is a great practical guide to putting together a system
- Photonics Rules of Thumb - Even the brightest and most capable optical engineer would be stymied without the use of practical principles of estimation.
- Opto-Mechanical Systems Design (Optical Engineering) - Most popular and authoritative source available on opto-mechanical systems design guidelines
- Applied Optics and Optical Design - Fundamental concepts of geometrical and physical optics. "Indispensable" - Journal, Optical Society of America.
