C Series Fixed Focal Length SWIR Lenses from Edmund Optics Awarded Silver-Level Innovators Award

Edmund Optics® is proud to announce their C Series Fixed Focal Length SWIR Lenses have won the Silver-Level 2025 Vision Systems Design (VSD) Innovators Award. These lenses drastically reduce costs compared to traditional short-wave infrared (SWIR) imaging lenses, enabling a new generation of cost-effective SWIR machine vision applications. The Innovators Awards from Vision Systems Design recognize innovative machine vision products and technologies based on their originality and impact on designers, system integrators, and end users.

SWIR imaging can accomplish unique tasks that would be impossible using conventional visible imaging, such as seeing through plastic containers that are opaque to visible light to measure their contents. In recent years, the cost of SWIR sensors has been significantly lowered due to Sony's advances in SWIR sensor technology. However, the exotic lens materials needed for SWIR optics still kept the cost of SWIR systems much higher than visible ones.

Edmund Optics recognized that most SWIR machine vision applications do not truly need to utilize the full wavelength range of the newer SWIR sensors. SWIR LED sources are typically narrowband and do not require the optics to be corrected for the entire waveband of SWIR. By taking advantage of this, the C Series Fixed Focal Length SWIR Lenses utilize more common glass materials and coatings optimized specifically for 900 – 1700nm, avoiding unnecessary cost increases while providing the full performance needed for the new wave of cost-effective SWIR systems.

SWIR system designers can now take full advantage of the benefits of Sony’s more accessible SWIR sensors, making SWIR imaging a cost-effective option in situations where it was not before. C Series Fixed Focal Length SWIR Lenses have a price ranging from $540 - $620 at low volumes, while traditional SWIR Lenses using exotic materials typically have prices in the $2,000 - $5,000 range.

These compact, lightweight lenses feature working distances and resolution requirements tailored for SWIR factory automation and inspection. They are compatible with up to 7.5 megapixel sensors with 2.8µm pixel sizes and are available in focal lengths from 6 to 50 mm. The C Series Fixed Focal Length SWIR Lenses are manufactured to tight tolerances, resulting in greater levels of imaging performance and low lens-to-lens variation, assuring simple installation into multiple systems.

Edmund Optics also applied this same approach to creating a line of cost-effective SWIR telecentric lenses named SilverTL™ SWIR Telecentric Lenses. These two new SWIR lens families avoid costly over-specification and make SWIR imaging more accessible than ever before.

The C Series Fixed Focal Length SWIR Lenses from Edmund Optics® are available now off-the-shelf for immediate shipping.

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