Abstract: This disclosure describes a device that belongs to the field of optical devices. More specifically it is a novel way of achieving light splitting or combining using a spherical reflector with a single input and multiple outputs, or multiple inputs and a single output.

Abstract: This disclosure describes an Oxygen sensing patch that can be attached to the interior surface of packages for oxygen interrogation inside the package. The Oxygen sensing patch is integrated into the inside of the package during the packaging manufacturing process and, when used with a blue LED and fluorometer, will quantitatively report the amount of oxygen in the package. The Oxygen sensing patch is suitable for measuring oxygen in gas, such as headspace applications, and in liquid. Oxygen is sensed by measuring the phase shift of fluorescence of the fluorophore immobilized in the Oxygen sensing patch. The patch can be non-intrusively interrogated by a light source. The interrogation can be done using a phase fluorometer where oxygen level is desired, or inspected visually for color change using a hand held blue LED.

Abstract: This invention belongs to the field of optical chemical sensors. Specifically, it relates to sensors based on the absorbance and emission of light by an indicator molecule where the optical properties of the indicator molecule change in response to a particular analyte. These indicator molecules are immobilized in a transparent substance that is exposed to light, where the substance is typically a solid such as a sol-gel or a polymer. More specifically, it is a new process for manufacturing a material (a medium or matrix) to hold or encapsulate sensing molecules. This new material has an improved resistance to exposure to hydrocarbons. These materials are used to immobilize colorimetric and/or fluorescence indicators in a matrix that repels hydrocarbons in general and non-polar hydrocarbons (i.e. aromatics hydrocarbons) in particular.

Abstract: An improved LED using patterned coated dichroic filters. More specifically a method for placing, during the wafer fabrication, patterned dichroic filters between the LED chip and phosphor layer to increase luminous efficiency and lower thermal load, and/or over the phosphor layer for spectral shaping and reduction of color temperature shift with viewing angle.

Abstract: This disclosure describes an Oxygen sensing patch that can be attached to the interior surface of packages for oxygen interrogation inside the package. The Oxygen sensing patch is integrated into the inside of the package during the packaging manufacturing process and, when used with a blue LED and fluorometer, will quantitatively report the amount of oxygen in the package. The Oxygen sensing patch is suitable for measuring oxygen in gas, such as headspace applications, and in liquid. Oxygen is sensed by measuring the phase shift of fluorescence of the fluorophore immobilized in the Oxygen sensing patch. The patch can be non-intrusively interrogated by a light source. The interrogation can be done using a phase fluorometer where oxygen level is desired, or inspected visually for color change using a hand held blue LED.

Abstract: A process for manufacturing a material, (medium or matrix) to hold or encapsulate sensing molecules with enhanced sensitivity to oxygen gas and dissolved oxygen by mixing a platinum compound with sol-gel monomers and then coating the tip of an optical fiber is disclosed. The sol-gel polymerizes, trapping the platinum compound in an oxygen permeable glass like solid. The high quenching efficiency of the Pt compound upon oxygen exposure makes the sensor extremely sensitive to oxygen partial pressure variations and also resistant to exposure to hydrocarbons.

Abstract: This invention belongs to the field of optical chemical sensors. Specifically, it relates to sensors based on the absorbance and emission of light by an indicator molecule where the optical properties of the indicator molecule change in response to a particular analyte. These indicator molecules are immobilized in a transparent substance that is exposed to light, where the substance is typically a solid such as a sol-gel or a polymer. More specifically, it is a new process for manufacturing a material (a medium or matrix) to hold or encapsulate sensing molecules. This new material has an improved resistance to exposure to hydrocarbons. These materials are used to immobilize colorimetric and/or fluorescence indicators in a matrix that repels hydrocarbons in general and non-polar hydrocarbons (i.e. aromatics hydrocarbons) in particular.

Abstract: This disclosure describes a multiple channel dichroic color mixing system or gobo that is comprised of three standard filters, one each of cyan, magenta and yellow, in combination with a fourth “multiband” optical filter with a spectral design that has multiple pass and blocking regions such that, by a suitable sequential combination of filters, the resultant transmitted light can be made to have enhanced color and intensity in the blue, green, and red portions of the color spectrum, without sacrificing the colors produced by combinations of the CMY filters that are commonly known in the industry. The “multiband” filter provides an optical solution with a single additional filter that, prior to this disclosure would require the addition of multiple single band filters, thereby increasing the mechanical complexity and overall cost of the color mixing device.

Abstract: An improved light beam combiner is disclosed that creates a more uniform light source across the UV, Visual, and NIR range. It is an optical mechanical device made up of a standard high low dielectric thin film which, when placed at a 45 degree angle between a Deuterium lamp and a Halogen or Tungsten lamp, reflects the UV portion of a Deuterium lamp and passes the visual portion while also allowing the visual energy of a Halogen or Tungsten lamp to pass resulting in a more uniform light source for use in spectroscopy.

Abstract: An improved light beam combiner is disclosed that creates a more uniform light source across the UV, Visual, and NIR range. It is an optical mechanical device made up of a standard high low dielectric thin film which, when placed at a 45 degree angle between a Deuterium lamp and a Halogen or Tungsten lamp, reflects the UV portion of a Deuterium lamp and passes the visual portion while also allowing the visual energy of a Halogen or Tungsten lamp to pass resulting in a more uniform light source for use in spectroscopy.

Abstract: A combination patterned reflective dichroic filter and optical coating, and method of making the same, is disclosed by starting with a filter substrate, laying down a pattern of dichroic filter material, but stopping short of completing the layers required for the spectral characteristics of the filter. The spectral characteristics are completed by adding a blanket coating of a material such as an anti-reflective material. In an alternative embodiment the blanket coating can be applied prior to addition of the dichroic filter material.

Abstract: An environmentally stable Silver containing mirror or thin-film optical filter having very high reflection values over a large spectral and angular range, and a method for constructing the mirror, or thin-film optical filter, comprising using a substrate that has been exposed to an Argon rich ion stream to prepare the surface. A medium index material is then deposed on the surface with Argon ion bombardment. The Silver is then deposited until it is opaque. A second deposition of the medium index material is next done with the Argon ion bombardment. The coating is then followed with a standard ion assisted deposed optical film to maximize reflection at the desired wavelength and angle of incidence.

Abstract: An environmentally stable Silver containing mirror or thin-film optical filter having very high reflection values over a large spectral and angular range, and a method for constructing the mirror, or thin-film optical filter, comprising using a substrate that has been exposed to an Argon rich ion stream to prepare the surface. A medium index material is then deposed on the surface with Argon ion bombardment. The Silver is then deposited until it is opaque. A second deposition of the medium index material is next done with the Argon ion bombardment. The coating is then followed with a standard ion assisted deposed optical film to maximize reflection at the desired wavelength and angle of incidence.

Abstract: A variable bandwidth tunable optical filters comprised of two transparent optical substrates, upon each of which is deposited a linearly variable multilayer interference filter coating which varies in total thickness from end to end in a wedged fashion. This wedge imparts a corresponding variation of the center wavelength of the filter bandpass with respect to the linear position of the coated filter substrates. The variable bandpass tunable filter can be adjusted to a specific center wavelength by moving the filter pair together linearly through the incident beam. The bandwidth of the filter pair is maximized when the two filters are spectrally aligned, and is determined by the bandwidth of the individual filters. The variable bandwidth of the tunable filter can be adjusted by introducing a relative linear offset between the linearly variable filter pair.

Abstract: A monolithic patterned dichroic filter array is mounted on a wafer by combining microelectronic and microlithography techniques. A wafer is coated with a photoresist. The assembly is masked, and the unmasked photoresist, after exposure to ultraviolet light, is developed to expose a predetermined section. That section of wafer is then over developed to create an undercut in its walls and to expose the underlying wafer. Dichroic filter material is then deposited onto the wafer by a cold process, and the photoresist layer is then removed, leaving only the dichroic filter material on the wafer. The process is repeated to create an array. The finished wafer is then bonded to a linear or two dimensional detector array, or to a glass window that is then bonded to a linear or two dimensional detector, to create a high performance spectral detector for spectroscopic imaging.

Abstract: This invention relates to the field of optical chemical sensors which utilize indicator molecules to detect a particular analyte in a sample, wherein the indicator molecules produce a detectable response when exposed to the particular analyte to which the indicator molecule is sensitive. Specifically, this invention relates to the use of a matrix embedded within a membrane, where the matrix enhances the scattering of light and serves as a support which provides superior mechanical strength. The invention also relates to methods of using the improved sensor in conjunction with fiber optic probes.