A rod lense is a special variant of a cylindrical lense used to focus incident light into a line. The ends of the rod lens have been ground, and the outside has been polished. These lenses are typically used to turn a circular laser beam into a line image. Cone lenses are bar lenses with tapered tips that direct incoming light down the long axis of the lens to produce a circular illumination pattern. To lessen stray light, these lenses' diameters are often ground. For 360° illumination, laser, and image systems, these lenses are perfect.
Alfa Chemistry can provide custom rod and cone lenses manufactured specifically for each customer and their needs. Our highly skilled professionals test each product in our state-of-the-art metrology lab to ensure it meets standards. For more information on your custom bar and cone lens needs, please contact our technical sales team.
Our Capabilities
To suit the customer's application, Alfa Chemistry offers custom rod and cone lenses in a range of sizes and materials. We can provide anti-reflective coatings to enhance throughput performance. Our capabilities include, but are not limited to, the following.
Customized Plain Rod Lenses
These mounted rod lenses can be easily attached to the laser head and then easily rotated to the correct orientation. For visible and near infrared applications, borosilicate can be employed, and for applications down to 175 nm, UV grade fused silica. To suit your particular purpose, custom rod lenses can be made in practically any manageable length and diameter. For usage as light pipe homogenizing rod lenses, custom rod lenses with polished ends can also be made available.
Custom 45° Rod Lenses
It is ground and polished at one end and the other end is ground and polished to 45° for bending light at 90°. Custom 45° rod lenses can be manufactured in a range of materials and in custom diameters and lengths to meet the customer's specific application. In addition to anti-reflective coatings, we can also apply a series of vacuum deposited mirror coatings to custom 45° rod lenses to form 45° rod mirrors. Endoscopes, borescopes, fiberscopes, as well as a variety of laser and imaging applications, are typical applications.
Custom Conical Lenses
We can custom manufacture these conical lenses to the desired diameter and can also polish custom angles to suit your specific application.
Below are examples of our standard manufacturing capabilities.
| Length | 5 mm to 100 mm+ |
| Diameter | 2 mm to 20 mm+ |
| Surface Quality | <60/40 |
| Cone Angle | 10° to 60° |
| Material | UV fused silica, Schott BK7, etc |
| Coating Options | AR coated for UV, Vis or NIR |
Quality Assurance
The custom rod and cone lenses are carefully tested to all applicable standards using state-of-the-art metering equipment. We inspect and scrutinize every product before it's shipped to customers, so customers can have complete confidence that the optics they order will be the best fit for their application.
Alfa Chemistry is always looking to expand and work with customers to achieve their specifications, so please feel free to contact our technical sales team for more information and guidance on your enquiry.
