Dove Prism

Posted by Ningliu on May 8th, 2017

Dove prisms are used as reflective prism inverting the image. Dove prism is shaped from a truncated right-angle prism. Normally, dove prisms are used in the parallel optical path based on critical angle principle to meet total internal reflection with limited FOV.

A beam of light entering one of the sloped faces of the prism undergoes total internal reflection from the inside of the longest (bottom) face and emerges from the opposite sloped face. Images passing through the prism are flipped, and because only one reflection takes place, the image is inverted but not laterally transposed.

A beam of light entering the sloped faces undergoes total internal reflection from the bottom surface, and emerges from the opposite sloped face. Also interestingly whtn dove prisms optical are rotated along longitudinal axis, the image rotates at twice the rate of the prism which have applications in fields such as interferometry, astronomy, and pattern recognition. Dove prisms can be also used as right angle prisms with sloped faces HR coated.

Hyperion Optics supplies standard and custom made dove prisms according to your requirement; please refer to following spec grid for further capability study. Talk to our technicians today to find out the best tolerance fit that works with your application.