Optics

• Optical Design and Instrumentation. Optical measurement techniques are used in a lot of everyday applications, including CD/DVD players and burglar alarms. Several optical technologies are playing an increasing role in industrial non-destructive characterisation of surfaces and materials.
• Spectroscopy. When light interacts with matter the interaction is different for different wavelengths, reflecting the physical (e.g. the electronic or structural) properties of the material. Measurement of the spectral response – spectroscopy – can thus be used to map out material properties. Such measurements are useful for a large range of industrial applications.
• Interferometry. Interferometry is a powerful and versatile tool for materials characterisation and testing. Interferometrical techniques are based on the wave properties of the light. The wavelength is the normal for these measurements giving extremely high-accuracy results in the nanometer range. The most important applications are the measurement of shape, deformations, and vibrations.
• Diffractive Optics. SINTEF has developed a design for a low cost spectrometer that with high accuracy can identify materials and gasses using the infrared region of the light spectrum. The spectrometer design was originally developed for Tomra Systems ASA to be used in material characterization of return bottles. The design has shown to give stable and reliable spectrometers with a large span of potential applications.
• Micro Optics.  We know micro optical system today in for instance CD- and DVD-systems. High precision, high volume components are produced at low cost. Also the replication techniques enables low cost component for specialized applications. Micromechanical components made from Si-wafers have made possible the immense growth of the telecom capacity needed for the Internet.
• Illumination.  All design of optical measurement systems involves illumination design. The optimal illumination depends on the measurement task. Characteristics in the object can be enhanced or suppressed with lighting, in order to simplify the measurement and analysis task. This applies as much to spectroscopy as to machine vision.

Image Analysis

• Computer Vision. A computer vision system measures, inspects or surveys objects or processes, and consists basically of a video camera connected to a computer.
• Image Processing. Image processing is any form of signal processing for which the input is an image, such as photographs or frames of video; the output of image processing can be either an image or a set of characteristics or parameters related to the image. Most image-processing techniques involve treating the image as a two-dimensional signal and applying standard signal-processing techniques to it.
• Pattern Recognition. Pattern recognition is used to analyse recurring patterns in data with the aim to detect, understand or classify the pattern.
• 3D Measurements and Analysis. SINTEF develops advanced, optical systems for the acquisition of 3D data as well as sophisticated methods and algorithms for 3D analysis.

Data Analysis

• Sensor Signal Analysis. Data analysis tools are incorporated into most measurement systems. SINTEF uses a long range of methods to analyse and model sensor signals, from deterministic simulation methods, via combined and fully empirical statistical methods, to advanced non-linear multivariate methods with fuzzy decisions.
• Sensor and data fusion. Often one sensor or one measurement principle can not capture all the information needed to make a desired conclusion. The idea with sensor and data fusion is to use inputs from complementary information sources that when combined, can be used to draw conclusions that can not be obtained from any of the sources alone.
• Multivariate Analysis. Many processes, both technical and social, depend on several known, and unknown, variables and have complex interactions between them. Multivariable methods are a collection of statistical techniques which pursuit knowledge of a process by analyzing more than one statistical variable simultaneously.

Lab Services

• Confocal Microscopy Lab (CLSM). SINTEF has a Leica TCS 4D confocal laser scanning microscope (clsm). The microscope is located in Oslo. The department has several years of experince using clsm for examining e.g. paper, coated surfaces, and metals.
• Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Lab (LIBS).
• Lighting Laboratory. The illuminating laboratory is equipped with a diversity of instruments for use in research projects and other scientific work. Based on these instruments we can offer a number of services relevant for the lighting industry and other research institutes.