What is the main application difference between the many types of prisms that you sell?

Edmund Optics® offers the following types of prisms: right angle, penta, amici roof, Schmidt, dove, littrow, equilateral, trihedral (retroreflection), rhomboid, anamorphic, wedge, light pipe homogenizing rods and compound parabolic concentrators.

Right angle prisms deviate line of sight by 90°.

Penta prisms, half penta prisms, and amici prisms deviate line of sight by 90° without inverting or reverting images; their geometric shapes lend each to different applications.

Schmidt prisms deviate line of sight by 45° while inverting and reverting images.

Dove prisms rotate images by twice the prism rotation angle.

Littrow prisms can be used in two ways: uncoated littrow prisms disperse white light into its component colors and coated littrow prisms deviate line of sight by 60°.

Equilateral prisms disperse white light into its component colors.

Trihedral prisms, or retroreflection prisms, produce 180° beam reflection.

Rhomboid prisms displace the optical axis without inverting images.

Anamorphic prisms expand the incident beam diameter in one direction.

Wedge prisms can be used individually or in pairs: individually, it is used to deviate a laser beam by a set angle, or in pairs, they create an anamorphic prism pair.

Light pipe homogenizing rods homogenize non-uniform light sources. Tapered light pipes also reduce output NA.

Compound parabolic concentrators work similarly to light pipe homogenizing rods; they collect and homogenize light from divergent sources.