Hello,
My team and I are designing a research tool that uses the DMD technology as a digital dynamic mask for photo polymerization. We want the projected image from the DLP LightCrafter 3000 to be demagnified, preferably aroundthe size of quarter (25-50mm). I know that most applications will remove the original light engine and replace it with one that will fit their specification, however our team was hoping to keep the original set up until we get further along in development. So the challenge we face is how to get this demagnification without modifying the LightCrafter. None of us has deep understanding of optics so we thought we would try asking about it here to see if anyone has experience or insight with our problem.
In particular, one idea that seemed plausible was to put one or more inexpensive optical element in front of the projection lens to get the demagnification. I browsed the optical elements at Thor Labs to get an idea of what was out there. One type of simple lens they carry is called “plano-convex lenses”, which can be used for “collimating a point source”. My idea is that you have one plano-convex lens that collimates the light from the DLP and another of a different dimension that focuses the collimated light to small working area. I know it is a long shot asking here, but does anyone have any idea if something like this would work? Any feedback is greatly appreciated!
Thank you,
Austin
