IR detection card

[u/Pristine_Fun_1761]

Hi everyone,

I’m interested in learning how you use IR detection cards in your work and what challenges you have when using them. Current IR detection cards from Thorlabs and Newport are not transparent, which can sometimes make laser alignment difficult. Would a transparent IR detection card make the alignment process easier or be useful for your applications?

I’d appreciate hearing about your experiences and thoughts. Thanks!

[u/Hefty_Repair_9175]

My biggest challenge is ”where the hell did I put it?! I JUST had it in my hand!”

Jokes aside I don’t remember myself every having wished it was transparent. They work quite well as they are.

[u/GustapheOfficial → u/Hefty_Repair_9175]

It's like pencils. There needs to be one in every single place you could possibly see yourself looking for it, or you will have a 0% chance of finding one.

[u/Equivalent_Bridge480 → u/GustapheOfficial]

So you just need at/vr helmet with cameras on board.

[u/AdamW142 → u/Hefty_Repair_9175]

We had the genius idea to attach a viewing card to a 30cm ruler so we get extra reach with the viewing card in hard to access places. With the added benefit that since it’s now bigger, it theoretically should be harder to lose.

The problem is when we do lose it (which still happens often), we lose both a viewing card and a ruler.

[u/UnderstandingOk6868]

The vrc4sm1 is transparent enough that for my needs (e.g. ti-saph laser alignment for two photons) I can see the beam from the other side without issue.

[u/Pic0los]

I've never really wished for the card to be transparent. What I did wish for was to be able to see the IR directly on the Iris without an IR viewer. Adjusting mirrors and holding an IR viewer at the same time is kind of clumsy at best and outright impossible with inaccessible mirrors. So an IR responsive Iris would be nice and I haven't seen one so far.

[u/Shippers1995 → u/Pic0los]

That’s actually a fantastic idea

[u/blindcollector]

I suppose some of the inconveniences of IR cards is the ways they don’t perform like an ordinary card in the vis. So things like needing to be ‘charged’ with visible light and being extra difficult to judge beam size are drawbacks. Collimating a mm scale visible beam or finding the minimum of a tightly focused visible beam can be pretty easy with a card. But I find it much more challenging to do the same with an IR beam and IR card. Usually have to resort to a dataRay or some such.

[u/Haunting-South-962]

It would be hard to make it work and not interfere with the beam propagation. Which makes transparent card use case questionable.

There are issues with cards: Low upconvertion efficiency Beam scattering inside the layer - visible spot is larger than initial.

[u/Street-Software3896]

Get an IR camera and zoom lens and walk the beam with the card, this is my daily, the card only serves to scatter and reflect some of the incident light.

[u/BrilliantStriking53]

I use a card when dealing with a converging or diverging beam of IR radiation. Without visualization, the process is time-consuming, as you are left with only a detector—characterized by its specific area and efficiency—to work with. Transparent visualizers are useful for verifying the quality of large optical assemblies that contain multiple components.

[u/chemoses]

Safety PSA the old version (don’t know about current) of VRC5 (laminated card) is a stray reflection risk. I would advise against it if it’s a not a 100% laser googles operation.

[u/thevengefulspartan]

I find drilling a small hole helps if you’re trying to align a reflection inside a laser cavity. I don’t recall ever wishing for a transparent detection card but if it means they wouldn’t burn, I’m all for it

[u/Shippers1995]

I use them to overlap a visible beam with the IR and for pulse shaper alignment. Never really considered a transparent one but I think it would be less helpful rather than more helpful