Triple Prism Mount W/color tinted walls

I came across this unique optical piece and have exhausted every avenue of research as to what exactly it is. Or used for.

I was hoping to get some enlightenment from you fine folks.

It is basically 3 pieces fitted together forming what seems to be a mount.
It is obviously part of a larger system, but it has some very interesting qualities. (at least to me)

There are 4 "windows" around the block, 3 of which seem to be "exits"
The largest one I assume is the entrance.

When I lased 650nm I got one strong beam coming from the left window, and 2 weaker beams out the other 2.

Just the opposite happened with 405nm.

532nm gets a strong signal through the middle window, weak on the sides.

473nm is very strong out the left, less strong out the middle, and weak out the left.

The various colored walls in the mount obviously determine how the wavelengths exit, but why?
Or better yet, what applications might this be used?

Besides being very cool, and heavy, I had hoped for more practical applications.

Is there anything you could enlighten me about this? Any an all help is much appreciated.

Its a Color separation filter I believe.:

Example:


Not sure though what it is used for.

I think it might be something used with cameras but its just a guess.

Yeah, probably a 3CCD prism.

^ Right.

At least, the one posted from lazeerer ..... all the assemblies i've seen similars, was in 3CCD professional videocameras ..... never seen one identical to the one posted from irritatediance, anyway, it look older than the actual ones .....

Anyone know where to find a 3CCD prism - in the "surplus" price range. IE, not edmund, etc.

That lead me right to it.

It is a Dichroic-prism
Perfect, thank you guys.
This diagram is the exact set-up of my prism, a trichroic prism.
now I need to find something cool to do with it.

thanks again

Oh rhd, here is an ebay listing for one similar:http://srx.main.ebayrtm.com/clk?RtmClk&u=1H4sIAAAAAAAAAD3QS2uDQBAH8LvgdxBKeludfbg%2BQEo1od0SE1FzE4qJoZV0o%2FjA9tt37KGn%2BfEfBmbmoZjv1vZ6sUBYlIfMDcGz0qK0GFBqGsMcfU5TX4WOsyyLfT3XP%2Fal0047aafMVfKaH1VCklO8I1muipTkLzFJjmmsDrucFNlelSWCeVqT7%2F%2FiY3F4AFwGPggh5dP7NNzGtqmiXnABtqa%2B%2B7hmfT3osYrqr49uw7eFSuxD9lZsmGynEQP1pxl1ekZ20x3ponrdNUjmgRf4gWCBx9d0nZHcNOouwuPqtokoBckATOOMBnClQLfYwK0Ae4J5grGA%2Boz7%2BI5bxEzjF4tAVaY0AQAA&ch=3&g=e0609eae1320a026c4347e34ffd6726f&i=-9999&aii=4660106427422918238&lid=1005640&m=219965&pi=4340 about $100

amazing how much info you can find when you actually know what you have

HIMNL9 said:

^ Right.

At least, the one posted from lazeerer ..... all the assemblies i've seen similars, was in 3CCD professional videocameras ..... never seen one identical to the one posted from irritatediance, anyway, it look older than the actual ones .....

Click to expand...

funny you say that, the ONLY marking on it is a stamp; "1983"

But this one is too big for a camera I'd think, mine weighs a good 5 lbs. It's dimensions are roughly 5x9"
Projector maybe.

I've already combined 532, 650, and 445; sure enough white spot showed. Then put flash light in main window, it separated the spectrum.
Very cool indeed

Just buy an old 3CCD camcorder. I got one for relatively cheap to extract the prism, but didn't have the heart to take it apart.

irritatediance said:

Oh rhd, here is an ebay listing for one similar: (link) about $100

Click to expand...

Actually, that's not 3CCD prism, that's a 3LCD X-prism. The 3CCD prism is better for splitting light into color components, the X-prism is better for combining.

I've got quite a few of the latter from old projectors I bought, including a huge 1.5 x 1.5 x 1.5" one:

These things are often used in large frame DLP televisions to pull out and separate the primary colors from the high power halogen bulbs..

Meatball said:

These things are often used in large frame DLP televisions to pull out and separate the primary colors from the high power halogen bulbs..

Click to expand...

I'm about to do a 1 man light show with 'er. Smoke, and then more smoke

Bionic-Badger said:

Actually, that's not 3CCD prism, that's a 3LCD X-prism. The 3CCD prism is better for splitting light into color components, the X-prism is better for combining.

Click to expand...

3CCD and 3LCD simply reference the camera type.
The prisms are Dichroic and Trichroic.
As for what the OP is doing, splitting or combining, would prob determine what is better suited.

good to know tho

Meatball said:

These things are often used in large frame DLP televisions to pull out and separate the primary colors from the high power halogen bulbs..

Click to expand...

I thought they use Color wheels.? Interesting. In my DLP Projector it uses a color wheel to do this. I thought it ws the same thing for DLP Televisions.

I dint know this. Thank You.:beer:

+

Meatball said:

These things are often used in large frame DLP televisions to pull out and separate the primary colors from the high power halogen bulbs..

Click to expand...

I've only seen dichroic mirrors for separating components in the projectors I've taken apart, but I'll admit that they're not DLPs.

irritatediance said:

3CCD and 3LCD simply reference the camera type.
The prisms are Dichroic and Trichroic.
As for what the OP is doing, splitting or combining, would prob determine what is better suited.

good to know tho

Click to expand...

No, that's not correct, because 3CCD is for separating light into components for detection by three CCD detectors (for cameras), and 3LCD is three-color light combining (for projectors). The distinction is in its purpose, and also how it would perform.

Also it's not the prism itself is not trichroic, but rather the entire prism assembly for splitting or combining into three colors, which also applies for the X-prism assembly. None of the prisms actually reflects out 3 colors directly,

Figures.
Thats what I get for trusting wiki.

Well thanks for the info either way.

So how long before it's mounted in a handheld 3 color laser unit for complete color combinations ?

OK. It might be a bit heavy and require some awfully big hands to hold it but...
How hard will it be to find a much smaller version ?
Maybe another spin off development from pico-projectors in the future ?
Would something like this be much more reliable for beam combining through thermal changes than the usual methods used for home made projectors ?
Any way someone can test the efficiencies ?

:thinking:

They are not very efficient for laser use, I tried to use the 2" cube I got from an LCD projector, but the losses were significant.