Beam characteristics of fiber-based supercontinuum light sources with mirror- and lens-based beam collimators

Opt Express. 2014 Jun 2;22(11):13860-9. doi: 10.1364/OE.22.013860.

Abstract

Commercially available supercontinuum light sources that cover most of the solar spectrum are well suited for instrumentation, where a well-collimated beam with wide spectral coverage is needed. Typically, the optical power is emitted from a single-mode photonic-crystal fiber and the output can either be collimated using a proprietary, permanently integrated, lens-based collimator or with a customer-provided, off-axis parabolic mirror. Here, we evaluate both approaches and conclude that, superior beam quality and collimation over the whole spectral range can be obtained with an off-axis parabolic mirror, however at the price of a more complex and bulky system requiring additional user alignment.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.