Digital image processing has become a standard process in industry, medical technology, food and environmental technology, traffic guidance systems and of course across the entire spectrum of space applications.
Depending on the application, the widest wavelength ranges on the optical spectrum are used. These include pure camera technology with CMOS technology in the VIS range, to hyperspectral analysis of ground information in the VIS and NIR spectrum, all the way to the IR spectrum (used for medical diagnostics). Spectral ranges are selected using a wide variety of optical filters, then recorded by sensors and processed into a signal. The key points here are the speed of data acquisition and its processing. The more precisely the optical filters are adapted to the application, the more accurate the evaluable data will be. This helps to reduce the signal processing time and significantly increases the reliability of the results.
Materion Balzers Optics has many years of know-how in this segment and can draw on a wide range of coating technologies to produce the appropriate filters for specific applications. In addition to the standard coatings for long-, short- or bandpass filters, we can also manufacture multi-bandpass filters with high blocking capabilities outside the pass range. Our portfolio includes the various structured processes by means of lithography that make it possible to offer multi-bandpass filters with a channel number >12.
Linear variable filters are also part of our product range. These are based on a flexible tuning of the wavelengths with a defined gradient in the passband. For systems used in medical technology and in the hyperspectral imaging segment, this is often a decisive advantage when it comes to flexibility.
The filters are designed and produced for specific applications. This means that the spectral properties, such as transmission, blocking and edge steepness, are optimized to meet requirements and deliver excellent results even under extreme conditions, for example in space applications.
