NASA recently launched a new project to detect exoplanets, and if it’s successful, it will be a breakthrough. The plan, which takes place in Earth’s orbit and is called Orbiting Rainbows, employs multiple lasers to turn a cloud of small reflective particles into an optical surface. If it succeeds, Orbiting Rainbows will be a relatively inexpensive and novel alternative to standard optical mirrors.

As a granular imager, Orbiting Rainbows will use lasers to form an optical surface out of micron-sized glass particles, making a “cloud optic” with an adjustable focal point.

Orbiting Rainbows looks promising for the spectral imaging of exoplanets, what with tight angular resolution of ~100 milliarcseconds, as well as innovative radar systems for remote sensing.

Down to Earth Solutions

But if you’re involved with spectral imaging here on Earth, you’ll want to use most innovative and high-quality photonic technology on the planet.

Gooch & Housego’s solid-state acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) technology, for example, allows rapid sequential and non-sequential center wavelength access, selectable bandwidth sizes, and speeds 1,000 times faster than comparable technologies. What’s more, to maximize speed the technology also allows direct triggering of camera hardware after each wavelength is acquired, meaning that you can acquire hyperspectral data sets as quickly as the camera can acquire images.

Why Go with Gooch & Housego?

Gooch & Housego is a manufacturer of precision optical components and assemblies in a wide variety of materials for applications in research, industry and defense. You’ll also find precision optical finishes on engineered parts, including crystals. Gooch & Houego’s products for laser cavity and beam conditioning include active and passive components and nonlinear crystals, and the company’s custom lenses and housed subassemblies are used in transmission and imaging. And much of Gooch & Hosuego’s business involves creating high quality, custom optics for volume OEM applications and unique optics for research.

If you are looking for optimal solutions to meet your most challenging application requirements, such as spectral imaging systems, whether down to Earth or our out of this world, contact 光傲科技 today at 400-921-9858. Gooch & Housego helps leading organizations all over the globe deliver tailored and innovative photonics technologies solutions to meet precise requirements.”