retroflectors

[bdike]

looking for sheet retroflectors. all the stuff we've found is for the safty/automotive industry and not of good enough quality for our app. an body know of anyone making better stuff for 'scientific' or display applications?

thanks.

 

[IRstuff]

How good a retroreflector do you need? TTFN

 

[bdike]

Well that's a good question that I have no idea how to answer. Is there some way to quntify the performance of this stuff? Here's what I do know:
This is a visual imaging app. where an image from an LCD is reflected and magnified several times. Right now the retrofeflector causes the image to be quite 'hazy' or soft. This, presumably, is caused by the ideally sharp angles of the corner-cube detail being slightly rounded or imperfect which disperses the incident light in a random manner. At the end of the day we need material where this geometry is as good as possible and the 'peaks and troughs' of the individual facets are as sharp as possible. Right now we're using a 'sign' type material from Reflexite.
Any help would be appreciated.
B

 

[IRstuff]

I'm not sure that given the described application that it makes sense to have any retroreflectors at all. PLX is one company that makes retroreflector arrays, but even the smallest one they make will probably outcost and outweigh your entire system:

http://www.plxinc.com/hra.html

Is there no other way to accomplish what you need? What are the dimensions involved, IFOV's, etc.?

Based on the limited information and some outright guessing, you'd better performance than obtainable from any commercially inexpensive retroarray. Both the surface intersections and the actual angles of intersection are going to impact your application.

I'm having a lot of trouble imagining where you might use a retroreflector, as there are many applications where a retroreflection is more easily obtained by using a plane mirror that's aligned in-situ. TTFN

 

[username]

It's been a couple years since I've needed one, but if memory serves correctly, retroreflectors won't flip an image around when you look at it (unlike a conventional mirror). They are kind of difficult to make so they cost a lot of money.. the more you spend, the better the reflection will be. Obviously, you want the image to come right back on itself and not at an angle. We tested this by shining an IR source (laser pen) directly at it and looked at where the image (red dot) veered off to. We first made sure the pen and retroreflector were in alignment. I believe Newport or Thorlabs carries very high quality retroreflectors...

Good Luck!

--Username