Nuclear Inspection Benefits from New Generation Sensor Lens

Resolve Optics Ltd. reports on increasing demand from the nuclear industry for radiation hard lenses optimized to operate with the latest generation of color sensors.

Mark Pontin, Managing Director of Resolve Optics commented “Increasingly the nuclear energy industry has adopted color CMOS sensors able to withstand the effects of radiation encountered in inspection of radioactive sites. Unfortunately, most non-browning glasses traditionally used to produce radiation-hard sensor lenses that are yellow tinted which gives color images acquired by CMOS cameras an unhelpful yellow appearance”. He added “A recent project for a nuclear energy industry operator demonstrates the advances that Resolve Optics has achieved in order to mitigate this problem”.

A major European organization involved in the nuclear energy industry sought a lens for their CMOS sensor that could provide natural color images while still retaining non-browning performance in environments subject to radiation. Selecting specialist glasses, Resolve Optics delivered a compact f/2 lens able to produce ‘near natural’ color images whilst also withstanding long-term exposure to radiation up to a dose of 100 million radians and temperatures to 55°C without discoloration. This new lens design innovation is enabling the customer to further improve plant inspection as they now have access to high clarity, natural color images.