Customized High Precision optical right angle prism rectangular prism
Prisms are solid glass optics that are ground and polished into geometrical and optically significant shapes. The angle, position, and number of surfaces help define the type and function. One of the most recognizable uses of prisms, as demonstrated by Sir Isaac Newton, consists of dispersing a beam of white light into its component colors. This application is utilized by refractometer and spectrographic components. Since this initial discovery, prisms have been used in "bending" light within a system, "folding" the system into a smaller space, changing the orientation (also known as handedness or parity) of an image, as well as combining or splitting optical beams with partial reflecting surfaces. These uses are common in applications with telescopes, binoculars, surveying equipment, and a host of others.
A notable characteristic of prisms is their ability to be modeled as a system of plane mirrors in order to simulate the reflection of light within the prism medium. Replacing mirror assemblies is perhaps the most useful application of prisms, since they both bend or fold light and change image parity. Often, multiple mirrors are needed to achieve results similar to a single prism. Therefore, the substitution of one prism in lieu of several mirrors reduces potential alignment errors, increasing accuracy and minimizing the size and complexity of a system.
Prisms are widely used in optical system, which can reflect, deviate and rotate beams of light as well as dispersing their wavelengths.
