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Ultra fast shutter for parabolic concentrator

Luciole

Jan 20, 2023
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Hello,

I am working on small solar concentrators, to concentrate light up to 10 000 times in an optical fibre. To carry out the planned experiments I need flashing illumination with the whole solar spectrum (wavelength from 350nm to 2500nm). So, I'm looking for a shutter capable of performing this task, ideally with shutter opening times ranging from the ns to the ms timescale. The shutter could be placed either on top of the concentrator (option 1), either between the secondary mirror and the optical fibre (option 2), please refer to the following figure. Please note that in position 2 the shutter would be stressed, part of it would be exposed to very high illumination levels, which may raise additional mechanical issues. The parabolic concentrator is approximatively 10 cm large and the distance between the optical fibre and the secondary mirror is approximatively 5 mm. To get a better idea of the system here is two other pictures.
If you have any ideas of where I could find this please tell me!
Thank you very much.
Figure 2.pngPicture1.jpg

Figure 1 Shutter position.png
Figure 2.pngPicture1.jpg
 

kellys_eye

Jun 25, 2010
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Nano seconds???? Not a chance! At least not at any price you could possibly afford! You will probably have to go 'digital' and potentially use LCD materials to stop the light but that, in and of itself, will introduce a medium (the LCD carrier liquid) that will affect the light itself anyway.

Anyone else got any ideas????
 

Luciole

Jan 20, 2023
2
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Jan 20, 2023
Messages
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Nano seconds???? Not a chance! At least not at any price you could possibly afford! You will probably have to go 'digital' and potentially use LCD materials to stop the light but that, in and of itself, will introduce a medium (the LCD carrier liquid) that will affect the light itself anyway.

Anyone else got any ideas????
Thank you for your answer. I already considered LCD as an option but unfortunately I couldn't find a company offering this range of wavelength
 

Harald Kapp

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Nov 17, 2011
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Commercially offered "ultrafast" shutters are 500 µs...
No way near the ns range you want to achieve.

Pulses lasers down to 5 ns are available. Doesn't mean they are affordable.

I found a 1 ns optical shutter at ~2500 € but it is for a dedicated wavelength only (1550 nm), not suitable for your spectrum.
 
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