AP Technologies Ltd.

It is exciting to see that our partner Silanna UV is being integrated into the operations of the unified Silanna corporate organisation, bear with us as we update our website's terminology!

Overcoming Noise in Low-Light Detection How do you amplify a weak optical signal without amplifying the noise sitting on top of it? That is the design problem behind Opto Diode Corp. An ITW Company's new avalanche photodiodes, now available in the UK from AP Technologies Ltd. The answer lies in the gain: up to M=100, with dark current held low enough that the amplified signal stays readable rather than buried. Gain is not pushed as high as possible however, since increased gain also brings excess noise and a higher operating voltage. That's why the two silicon variants are specified at 209V and 437V at M=100 rather than higher. Three models of silicon and InGaAs APD cover 400nm to 1700nm between them, in a hermetically sealed TO-46 package built to hold up under temperature swings and vibration. The balance between gain and noise needs to be taken into account wherever the returning signal is weak, from lidar and optical comms through to medical imaging and research instrumentation. Contact us to discuss low light detection solutions. Follow AP Technologies for the deeper dive on gain, responsivity and packaging tradeoffs. #AvalanchePhotodiodes #Optoelectronics #LiDAR #PhotonicsEngineering #LowLightDetection #OEMIntegration

In UV sensing, the detector often dies before the source does. The mechanism is easy to miss, high-energy UV-C photons strike a standard silicon photodiode and get absorbed by its SiO₂ surface layer, which slowly darkens like plastic left in sunlight. That haze blocks incoming light, responsivity drops and your readings drift with it. Modern excimer lasers and high-efficiency deep UV-C LEDs push so much energy through that this slow fade becomes a rapid collapse. The Opto Diode UVG series is built for exactly this problem. Its super-hard oxynitride window has been proven to hold steady where standard detectors give up: ✳️ Under 2% responsivity loss after tens of kilojoules/cm² from a 193nm ArF excimer laser. ✳️ Absolute stability across thousands of hours with 230nm far UV-C LEDs. High sensitivity from 190nm to 400nm, with 100% internal quantum efficiency from 310nm to 640nm. ✳️ One detector that stays accurate for the life of the instrument, whether you are monitoring a high-power laser or running UV-C LED water quality and gas detection. Getting the detector right early takes a real risk off the table. We have helped plenty of engineers through this exact decision. Specifying a UV detector? Contact us to talk it through, or follow AP Technologies for more on optoelectronic integration. #Photodiodes #UVSensing #OEMIntegration #Optoelectronics Opto Diode Corp. An ITW Company

Missing obstacles at 4m because your sensor only sees a narrow cone? Designing in Broadcom Time-of-Flight sensors into fast moving platforms such as AGVs and autonomous robots allows predictable detection of obstacles up to 6m distance measurement with a 13° x 6° field of view and 32 parallel depth pixels and up to 3kHz frame rates. The AFBR S50MX85I from Broadcom maintains reliable measurements in up to 100klx ambient light, handling black plastics, metallic surfaces and mixed materials without complex filtering schemes. Typical current consumption is 33mA from a single 5V rail with SPI interface, keeping thermal load manageable in compact enclosures. In warehouse automation platforms, wider field coverage has reduced missed edge events and simplified alignment during assembly. This is not just extended range and robustness. It is practical spatial awareness designed for OEM integration. At AP Technologies, we support early sampling and transition into volume manufacture with traceability and supply continuity. When your specification calls for reliable detection beyond 4m in high ambient light, extending usable range towards 6m provides valuable design margin. If this is true for you, it may be worth a discussion. Follow us to learn more about the latest optoelectronic products and applications. #TimeOfFlight #ToFSensor #SensingSolutions #AutomationEngineering #Robotics #AGV #SmallFormFactor 

Taking an architectural view of depth acquisition in 3D sensing means the acquisition method decides what kind of performance is achievable, before a single sensor is selected. Stereo and structured light introduce mechanical alignment, environmental sensitivity and computational dependencies that must be managed once architecture is fixed. Once the enclosure and optical path are locked in, correcting for these dependencies becomes expensive. Time of Flight cameras take a different approach, measuring depth directly at each pixel and reducing reliance on stereo baselines and projected pattern geometry. Available modules span working ranges from 15mm up to 100m, with some variants offering accuracy better than ±1% at 2.5m and power envelopes as low as 1.5 to 2.5W. Integration predictability extends beyond depth accuracy. Interface standards such as MIPI and USB, operating temperature limits and IEC 60825-1:2014 Class 1 classification all influence system level compliance. Verifying these figures before tooling lock reduces cost and certification exposure. The architecture you choose decides what kind of engineering risk you take on and the specific module you choose decides the resulting numbers and performance. If your next platform involves depth sensing in a constrained footprint, this is worth reviewing before your architecture is fixed. Contact me to find out more. Follow us for further insights into optoelectronic technology and applications.

3D mapping outside of the lab? Need consistent and dependable data regardless of environmental conditions? Indirect Time-of-Flight imaging is a strong contender. In the lab, stereo and structured light systems can produce impressive results. In a compact OEM enclosure with variable light and temperature, vibration and limited processing headroom the performance is less reliable. CubeEye indirect Time of Flight cameras take a different architectural approach. By emitting modulated infrared light and calculating phase shift per pixel, the module outputs a full depth map directly at up to 30FPS. There’s no heavy stereo correlation, need for external projector alignment or complex calibration drift management. For integration engineers, that delivers measurable advantages: ✳️ Integrated proprietary companion chip. On sensor depth computation removes processing load from the host CPU for faster imaging with less blur. ✳️ Defined measurement envelope. Typical operating range of approximately 0.2-5m, with depth accuracy of less than ±1%. ✳️ Wide field of view. 90° (H) x 68° (V) enabling coverage flexibility without multi camera stitching. ✳️ Compact and low power. Mechanical footprint in the region of 60mm × 30mm with average power consumption typically below 2W. ✳️ Production ready repeatability. Factory calibrated modules support consistent performance from prototype through to OEM volume manufacture. If you are evaluating 3D sensing solutions for robotics, industrial automation or applied research instrumentation, CubeEye ToF is worth closer consideration. AP Technologies supports early sampling, OEM integration and long term production planning. Get in touch for an informal chat. Follow us for optoelectronic technology updates and insight. #TimeOfFlight #3DSensing #DepthSensing #RoboticsVision #IndustrialAutomation #EmbeddedVision

Still using photomultiplier tubes for low level light detection? Silicon photomultipliers now deliver photon detection efficiencies up to 40 to 55% at peak wavelength, operating on bias voltages typically below 60V against the 500V to 2000V PMTs require. That gap matters most once you try to fit the detector into a compact instrument. Vacuum tubes, high voltage supplies and magnetic shielding all add cost and risk to the design. The numbers: ▶️ Gain sits on the order of 10⁵ to 10⁷, comparable to a PMT, but achieved through an array of Geiger mode microcells rather than a dynode chain. ▶️ Dark count rate is the trade off. At room temperature SiPMs typically run at hundreds of kilohertz per mm², against a few hertz upwards for PMTs. ▶️ Thermoelectric cooling brings this down significantly, with one study showing suppression to below 100 Hz. In one PET system transition from PMT to SiPM based detection, time of flight resolution improved from ~560 ps to 215 ps FWHM, sharpening spatial localisation along each line of response from ~8.4 cm to ~3.2 cm. System sensitivity in that same case nearly doubled, increasing count rates, and scan time dropped from 16 minutes and 0 seconds to 8 minutes and 44 seconds. It is not a drop in replacement. Gain uniformity, dark count rate and temperature sensitivity all need careful characterisation during proof of concept, which is where early sample access typically makes the difference to a development timeline. If your team is evaluating SiPM integration for an upcoming sensing platform, we are glad to support the assessment. Follow AP Technologies for more application focused optoelectronic insights and updates. #SiPMs #Optoelectronics #PhotonDetection #SensingSolutions Broadcom

For decades, far UV below 240nm meant lamps. Now UV‑C LEDs have come of age. High voltage drivers with warm up delays. Fragile arc tubes and bulky optical chambers that dictated enclosure size and limited mechanical robustness. These have constrained analytical sensing for too long. Now however, 230nm UV‑C LEDs are delivering targeted emission aligned to nitrate and nitrite absorption, from compact hermetically sealed packages suited to OEM integration. ✳️ No warm up time. ✳️ Reduced footprint. ✳️ Improved shock tolerance. ✳️ Production ready repeatability. For water quality and gas sensing instrumentation, this represents a structural shift in how far UV systems can be designed.If your current architecture still assumes a lamp, it may be time to reassess. #FarUVC #UVLED #AnalyticalSensing #WaterQualityMonitoring #GasSensing

Not just space science! the AXUV series is ideal for many "down to earth" applications and is widely used in particle physics applications such as beamlines in synchrotrons, monitoring fusion experiments and scanning electron microscopy.

The “impossible” green wavelengths of 561nm and 594nm have long forced biomedical instruments into bulky, thermally demanding laser architectures. For flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy systems operating at these wavelengths this traditionally meant frequency converted DPSS systems consuming tens of cubic centimetres and significant power. However, that’s changing: Hybrid semiconductor architectures based on DFBs and SOAs now deliver 561nm and 594nm from a 22×5.6×3.8mm module, consuming ~8W and maintaining ~0.04nm per °C stability without internal TEC control. If you are developing an imaging system, this means: ▶️ Reduced enclosure volume and heat load. ▶️ Simplified mechanical stack ups. ▶️ Greater flexibility in multi wavelength optical layouts. ▶️ A realistic path to compact and portable platforms. The challenge has long been that 561nm and 594nm traditionally required bulky frequency converted sources that dominated thermal budget and optical space. By integrating a DFB seed, semiconductor optical amplification and waveguide based nonlinear conversion into a highly compact architecture, it is now possible to achieve significant footprint reduction while retaining single frequency performance and wavelength stability. At AP Technologies, we support integration beyond the catalogue, from proof of concept sampling through to production readiness. If 561nm or 594nm is constraining your next build, it may be time to revisit the architecture. Follow AP Technologies for practical insights into optoelectronic solutions and OEM integration. #Optoelectronics #OEMIntegration #BiomedicalEngineering #Photonics #LaserTechnology #InstrumentationDesign