title: Elliptical trough reflector for the collection of light from linear sources.
abstract: A trough reflector with a reflective, truncated elliptical surface was designed to efficiently collect freely propagating light from a linear source. The source was placed at one focus of the reflector, and light was collected through a rectangular aperture near the second focus. Collection efficiency was much greater than that of a spherical integrator and approximately 6.5x greater than that of an objective lens; as much as approximately 55% of the light could be captured from the full aperture. This reflector could be used to efficiently collect surface fluorescence excited by use of evanescent waves in fluorescence-based fiber optic or capillary waveguide sensors.
authors.forename: H P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Kao
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Schoeniger