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Thorlabs, a leading provider of photonics components and optical system solutions, has highlighted a selection of innovative photonics products on GoPhotonics to support a broad range of scientific, industrial, and research applications. The featured technologies address key requirements across precision optics, infrared illumination, terahertz spectroscopy, polarization analysis, and quantum photonics, enabling researchers and engineers to develop advanced measurement, imaging, sensing, communications, and next-generation quantum systems. From high-performance optical components and stable broadband light sources to terahertz instrumentation, polarization characterization tools, and single-photon generation platforms, these solutions are engineered to deliver accuracy, reliability, and versatility for demanding photonics applications.

AL7560 N-BK7 Aspheric Lens

The AL7560 is an N-BK7 Aspheric Lens optimized for operation at 780 nm. The lens features a focal length of 60 mm and offers a clear aperture of 69 mm for collimation and 58 mm for focusing applications. With a numerical aperture of 0.62, it enables efficient light collection and beam shaping in demanding optical systems.

The lens provides a surface quality of 40-20 scratch-dig, maximum RMS wavefront error of 0.5 μm, and irregularity of 3 fringes for high optical performance. Additional specifications include a working distance of 36.5 mm, sag deviation of ±7.5 μm, diameter tolerance of ±0.05 mm, and centration below 3 arcmin, making it suitable for precision imaging, laser, and photonics applications.

SLS303 Infrared Emitter

The SLS303 Infrared Emitter delivers broadband output from 550 nm to 15,000 nm, providing a versatile illumination source for optical measurement and calibration systems. The emitter generates 4.5 W of total output power, including 100 mW of visible output between 400 nm and 700 nm and 4.4 W of infrared output above 700 nm.

Designed around a silicon nitride emitter, the SLS303 offers output power stability of 0.05%, power drift of 0.2%/°C and 0.01%/h, and a beam diameter of 50 mm. It features a color temperature of 1200 K, a globar module power of 70 W, and an operational lifetime of 5000 hours. The source is well suited for detector calibration systems and optical measurement setups requiring stable broadband back illumination.

PCA800 Terahertz Photoconductive Antenna

The PCA800 is a terahertz photoconductive antenna engineered for operation with 800 nm excitation sources. It delivers THz output power below 7 μW and supports average optical pump laser intensities up to 620 W/cm² incident on the photoconductive gap.

The antenna produces linearly polarized THz radiation with beam diameters ranging from 100 μm to 300 μm and a beam divergence of 15°. Built with an interdigital antenna structure featuring a 300 μm x 300 μm active area, a 21 μm dipole length, and a 5 μm gap distance, the PCA800 is optimized for broadband terahertz generation and detection.

Mounted on a hyper-hemispherical silicon lens, the device supports bias modulation frequencies up to 10 MHz and is suitable for pulsed-laser time-domain spectroscopy systems as well as tunable continuous-wave THz measurement platforms.

ERM210 Polarization Extinction Ratio Meter

The ERM210 Polarization Extinction Ratio Meter is designed for visible-wavelength polarization measurements from 400 nm to 700 nm. It provides polarization extinction ratio measurements up to 40 dB with a resolution of 0.1 dB and an accuracy better than 0.5 dB.

The instrument features polarization angular resolution of 0.1° on the display and 0.01° via USB, while maintaining polarization angle accuracy below 0.5°. A 2.42-inch OLED display and measurement speed of 10 Hz enable efficient operation in laboratory and production environments.

With USB connectivity, monitor voltage output capabilities, and compatibility with AC supplies ranging from 110 V to 220 V, the ERM210 is suitable for applications in medical, pharmaceutical, military, research, and development environments where accurate polarization characterization is required.

SPDC810 Single-Photon Source

The SPDC810 Single-Photon Source is a compact turnkey quantum photonics platform operating at 810 nm. Based on periodically poled potassium titanyl phosphate (PPKTP) crystals, the system generates Type-II collinear spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) photon pairs for advanced quantum optics experiments.

The source incorporates an integrated 405 nm pump diode laser with output power up to 150 mW and provides a photon bandwidth of 10 nm. It offers wavelength accuracy of ±2 nm, wavelength stability of ±2.5 nm, a heralding ratio greater than 0.45, and maximum coincidence rates of up to 450 kHz.

With an extinction ratio exceeding 17 dB and a lifetime of 2500 hours, the SPDC810 supports a wide range of quantum applications, including quantum key distribution, quantum time transfer, sub-shot-noise imaging, two-photon interference studies, single-photon detector testing, quantum metrology, spectroscopy, and quantum networking research.

Together, these products demonstrate Thorlabs' continued commitment to providing researchers and engineers with advanced photonics technologies that address challenges across optical engineering, spectroscopy, polarization analysis, terahertz science, and emerging quantum applications.

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