In an industrial context, a "lens" usually refers to an optical component that is used to focus or manipulate light in some way.
Here are some examples of lenses in industry:
- Camera lenses: used in photography and videography to focus light onto an image sensor or film.
- Microscope lenses: used in microscopy to magnify and focus light to produce a magnified image of a specimen.
- Telescope lenses: used in astronomy to focus light from distant objects and produce an image.
- Laser lenses: used in laser systems to focus, collimate, or diverge laser beams.
- Fiber optic lenses: used in fiber optic communication systems to focus light onto the ends of optical fibers.
Similar things to lenses in industry might include:
- Mirrors: used to reflect and manipulate light in a similar way to lenses.
- Prisms: used to refract and manipulate light, often to split it into different wavelengths or directions.
- Optical filters: used to selectively transmit or block certain wavelengths of light.
- Beam splitters: used to divide a beam of light into two or more separate beams.
- Polarizers: used to selectively transmit or block light of a certain polarization.