Although a mirror’s surface appears smooth to the naked eye, if you looked at it through a microscope you’d see many peaks and valleys. These surface imperfections can cause interference with light waves and other electromagnetic radiation. For this reason, understanding the degree and nature of this interference is crucial to successfully designing a metal based optical system.

An organic scintillator used for fast neutron detection, Scintinel™ stilbene is commercially produced at Inrad Optics. This material enables next-generation radiation detection for physics research, homeland security and nuclear nonproliferation. Inrad Optics has launched a new website specifically for the Scintinel™ product line. This website allows stilbene customers access to summaries of properties and performance and links to scientific publications that demonstrate a range of applications.

Inrad Optics worked with Department of Nuclear Engineering, North Carolina State University to provide Scintinel™ stilbene crystals of various orientations mounted in housed assemblies for an anisotropy study on the performance of stilbene.

Curved crystal optics have long played an important role in focusing x-ray emissions in analytical instruments.  Watch our new video to learn more about these x-ray crystals.

In any optical assembly, the biggest challenge is balancing the optical and mechanical specifications, which can be at odds with each other. A recent case in point is an external flight window designed for high-resolution airborne imaging.

At magnetic confinement and laser inertial confinement nuclear fusion research facilities, plasma imaging and spectroscopy are critical tools for understanding the dynamics of the confined fuel and getting closer to the goal of clean, sustainable power. These plasma diagnostics are enabled by precision bent crystal x-ray optics designed and fabricated to offer high spatial and energy resolutions for particular ranges of x-ray energies. These optics operate by using the interplanar spacing at a given crystal orientation as a diffraction grating.

Using toroidally shaped crystals is more practical now than ever, thanks to the high quality of synthetic crystals and state-of-the-art optical manufacturing and testing methods. For years, curved x-ray crystal optics have been used to analyze x-ray emissions in applications like analytical chemistry micro-probes and plasma diagnostics. When specifying your x-ray optical assembly in these and other applications, consider the following:

Over the decades since their first demonstration, Ti:Sapphire oscillators have enabled countless researchers in biology, chemistry and physics to develop and refine new techniques in ultrafast spectroscopy and microscopy. These techniques have made it possible to observe chemical reactions on femtosecond time scales, non-destructively probe delicate biological samples while maintaining high signal intensity and make remarkable advances in nonlinear optics and plasma physics.

First characterized in 1949, trans-stilbene (C₁₄H₁₂) continues to be the material of choice for fast neutron detection. However, until recently it has been difficult to produce sizes large enough to be effectively used as a scintillator because crystals were limited in growth to only a few millimeters.