Optical Calibration Ball

The spherical shape, a ball, forms the ultimate optical calibration device. A ball is the only geometric form that has a single defining characteristic. This one and only feature is the radius of the ball. Like everything in life, nothing is free. The typical surface of a high quality ball has a high spectral reflectivity. It is very shiny. Unfortunately, shiny objects are not good targets for purposes of optical metrology. What is needed is a satin finished object with little or no spectral reflectivity. A peculiarity of nature comes to our rescue in form of the element titanium. The crystallographic structure of almost all metals forms a cube, but titanium forms a hexagonal structure. For this reason, the metal titanium can be electro mechanically processed to produce an extremely accurate geometry with a perfect satin finish ( without any spectral reflectivity ). These satin finished balls can be assembled to form calibration artifacts. Typical examples of the artifacts are: ball bars ( dumbbells, ball plates and simple pretzels ). Call our order desk at 800-322-5832 for price and delivery of "off the shelf" or custom made satin finished titanium balls.

More Information

For more information, see our page "All Characterization Spheres." To see our available stock of satin finished products, click our shopping cart.