Mounted Penta Prism

90° Deviation of Beam or Image without Changing Polarization Handedness
N-BK7 Prism with Aluminum-Coated Reflective Faces
30 mm Cage Cube Mount with SM1-Threaded Ports

CCM1-PS932

Penta Prisms Deviate the Incident Light by 90° without Inverting or Reversing the Image

Related Items

Unmounted Penta Prisms

Other Prisms

Turning Mirrors

30 mm Cage Systems

Right-Angle Cage Mount

Mirrors

End Caps

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Overview
Prism Guide
Mounted Optics Guide
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Mounted Penta Prisms are Compatible with Thorlabs' 30 mm Cage System

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The CCM1-PS932(/M) features two SM1-threaded ports and has two closed sides to minimize light leakage.

Features

Deviate Beams without Reversal or Inversion of the Beam Profile
90º Beam Deviation is Insensitive to Beam/Prism Alignment
N-BK7 Prism with Aluminum-Coated Reflective Faces
Post Mountable and 30 mm Cage System Compatible
Compatible with SM1-Threaded (1.035"-40) Components

Penta prisms deviate incident light by 90° without inverting or reversing the image (i.e., without changing the polarization handedness). Additionally, the 90° image deviation is independent of the orientation of the prism with respect to the incident beam or image, making penta prisms an effective alternative to turning mirrors. The only limitation on alignment is the >Ø12 mm clear aperture of the housing.

Thorlabs' Mounted Penta Prism is fabricated from N-BK7 with two aluminized reflective faces protected by an Inconel and black paint overcoat. It features a clear aperture of >Ø12 mm and is mounted inside a standard 30 mm cage system cage cube. The prism is epoxied within a cage cube mount and cannot be removed. Note that the beam exits the cage cube mount at 90° ± 20 arcmin.

The housing provides an 8-32 (M4) tap for post mounting, SM1-threaded (1.035"-40) input and output ports, and eight 4-40-tapped holes for cage rods on the entrance and exit faces. The CCM1-PS932(/M) features two SM1-threaded ports and has two closed sides to minimize light leakage. The penta prism cage cube can also be connected to other cage cubes using cage rods and ERSCB adapters. For a complete selection of our cube-mounted optics please see the Mounted Optics Guide tab.

We also offer 10, 20, 40, and 60 mm unmounted penta prisms. Empty 30 mm cage cubes are available for mounting our 20 mm unmounted penta prism.

Specifications
Prism Material	N-BK7^a
Unmounted Prism	PS932
Reflective Coating	Aluminum with Inconel and Black Paint Overcoat
Clear Aperture	>Ø12 mm^b
Surface Flatness	<λ/10 at 633 nm
Surface Quality	40-20 Scratch-Dig
Angular Tolerances	±1 arcmin
Reflected Beam Angle^c	90° ± 20 arcmin
Prism Dimensions	A = B = C = 20 mm L₁= L₂= 28.3 mm
Dimensional Tolerance	±0.1 mm

Click Link for Detailed Specifications on the Substrate Glass
The clear aperture of the mounted prism is limited by the housing.
The deviation of a beam exiting the prism is ±1 arcmin, whereas the deviation of the beam exiting the prism when mounted in the housing is ±20 arcmin.

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Prism Dimension Schematic

Selection Guide for Prisms

Thorlabs offers a wide variety of prisms, which can be used to reflect, invert, rotate, disperse, steer, and collimate light. For prisms and substrates not listed below, please contact Tech Support.

Beam Steering Prisms

Prism	Material	Deviation	Invert	Reverse or Rotate	Applications
Right Angle Prisms	N-BK7, UV Fused Silica, Calcium Fluoride, or Zinc Selenide	90°	90°	No	90° reflector used in optical systems such as telescopes and periscopes.
Right Angle Prisms	N-BK7, UV Fused Silica, Calcium Fluoride, or Zinc Selenide	180°	180°	No	180° reflector, independent of entrance beam angle. Acts as a non-reversing mirror and can be used in binocular configurations.
TIR Retroreflectors (Unmounted and Mounted) and Specular Retroreflectors (Unmounted and Mounted)	N-BK7	180°	180°	No	180° reflector, independent of entrance beam angle. Beam alignment and beam delivery. Substitute for mirror in applications where orientation is difficult to control.
Unmounted Penta Prisms and Mounted Penta Prisms	N-BK7	90°	No	No	90° reflector, without inversion or reversal of the beam profile. Can be used for alignment and optical tooling.
Roof Prisms	N-BK7	90°	90°	180^o Rotation	90° reflector, inverted and rotated (deflected left to right and top to bottom). Can be used for alignment and optical tooling.
Unmounted Dove Prisms and Mounted Dove Prisms	N-BK7	No	180°	2x Prism Rotation	Dove prisms may invert, reverse, or rotate an image based on which face the light is incident on. Prism in a beam rotator orientation.
Unmounted Dove Prisms and Mounted Dove Prisms	N-BK7	180°	180°	No	Prism acts as a non-reversing mirror. Same properties as a retroreflector or right angle (180° orientation) prism in an optical setup.
Wedge Prisms	N-BK7	Models Available from 2° to 10°	No	No	Beam steering applications. By rotating one wedged prism, light can be steered to trace the circle defined by 2 times the specified deviation angle.
Wedge Prisms	N-BK7	Models Available from 2° to 10°	No	No	Variable beam steering applications. When both wedges are rotated, the beam can be moved anywhere within the circle defined by 4 times the specified deviation angle.
Coupling Prisms	Rutile (TiO₂) or GGG	Variable^a	No	No	High index of refraction substrate used to couple light into films. Rutile used for n_film > 1.8 GGG used for n_film < 1.8

Depends on Angle of Incidence and Index of Refraction

Dispersive Prisms

Prism	Material	Deviation	Invert	Reverse or Rotate	Applications
Equilateral Prisms	F2, N-SF11, Calcium Fluoride, or Zinc Selenide	Variable^a	No	No	Dispersion prisms are a substitute for diffraction gratings. Use to separate white light into visible spectrum.
Dispersion Compensating Prism Pairs	Fused Silica, Calcium Fluoride, SF10, or N-SF14	Variable Vertical Offset	No	No	Compensate for pulse broadening effects in ultrafast laser systems. Can be used as an optical filter, for wavelength tuning, or dispersion compensation.
Pellin Broca Prisms	N-BK7, UV Fused Silica, or Calcium Fluoride	90°	90°	No	Ideal for wavelength separation of a beam of light, output at 90°. Used to separate harmonics of a laser or compensate for group velocity dispersion.

Prism

Material

Deviation

Invert

Reverse or Rotate

Illustration

Applications

Equilateral Prisms

F2, N-SF11, Calcium Fluoride,
or Zinc Selenide

Variable^a

Dispersion prisms are a substitute for diffraction gratings.

Use to separate white light into visible spectrum.

Dispersion Compensating Prism Pairs

Fused Silica, Calcium Fluoride, SF10, or N-SF14

Variable Vertical Offset

Compensate for pulse broadening effects in ultrafast laser systems.

Can be used as an optical filter, for wavelength tuning, or dispersion compensation.

Pellin Broca Prisms

N-BK7,
UV Fused Silica,
or Calcium Fluoride

90°

Ideal for wavelength separation of a beam of light, output at 90°.

Used to separate harmonics of a laser or compensate for group velocity dispersion.

Depends on Angle of Incidence and Index of Refraction

Beam Manipulating Prisms

Prism	Material	Deviation	Invert	Reverse or Rotate	Illustration	Applications
Anamorphic Prism Pairs	N-KZFS8 or N-SF11	Variable Vertical Offset	No	No		Variable magnification along one axis. Collimating elliptical beams (e.g., laser diodes) Converts an elliptical beam into a circular beam by magnifying or contracting the input beam in one axis.
Axicons	UV Fused Silica or Zinc Selenide	Variable^a	No	No		Creates a conical, non-diverging beam with a Bessel intensity profile from a collimated source.

Prism

Material

Deviation

Invert

Reverse or Rotate

Illustration

Applications

Anamorphic Prism Pairs

N-KZFS8 or
N-SF11

Variable Vertical Offset

Variable magnification along one axis.

Collimating elliptical beams (e.g., laser diodes)

Converts an elliptical beam into a circular beam by magnifying or contracting the input beam in one axis.

Axicons

UV Fused Silica
or Zinc Selenide

Variable^a

Creates a conical, non-diverging beam with a Bessel intensity profile from a collimated source.

Depends on Prism Physical Angle

Polarization Altering Prisms

Prism	Material	Deviation	Invert	Reverse or Rotate	Applications
Glan-Taylor, Glan-Laser, and α-BBO Glan-Laser Polarizers	Glan-Taylor: Calcite Glan-Laser: α-BBO or Calcite	p-pol. - 0° s-pol. - 112°^a	No	No	Double prism configuration and birefringent calcite produce extremely pure linearly polarized light. Total Internal Reflection of s-pol. at the gap between the prism while p-pol. is transmitted.
Rutile Polarizers	Rutile (TiO₂)	s-pol. - 0° p-pol. absorbed by housing	No	No	Double prism configuration and birefringent rutile (TiO₂) produce extremely pure linearly polarized light. Total Internal Reflection of p-pol. at the gap between the prisms while s-pol. is transmitted.
Double Glan-Taylor Polarizers	Calcite	p-pol. - 0° s-pol. absorbed by housing	No	No	Triple prism configuration and birefringent calcite produce maximum polarized field over a large half angle. Total Internal Reflection of s-pol. at the gap between the prism while p-pol. is transmitted.
Glan Thompson Polarizers	Calcite	p-pol. - 0° s-pol. absorbed by housing	No	No	Double prism configuration and birefringent calcite produce a polarizer with the widest field of view while maintaining a high extinction ratio. Total Internal Reflection of s-pol. at the gap between the prism while p-pol. is transmitted.
Wollaston Prisms and Wollaston Polarizers	Quartz, Magnesium Fluoride, α-BBO, Calcite, Yttrium Orthovanadate	Symmetric p-pol. and s-pol. deviation angle	No	No	Double prism configuration and birefringent calcite produce the widest deviation angle of beam displacing polarizers. s-pol. and p-pol. deviate symmetrically from the prism. Wollaston prisms are used in spectrometers and polarization analyzers.
Rochon Prisms	Magnesium Fluoride or Yttrium Orthovanadate	Ordinary Ray: 0° Extraordinary Ray: deviation angle	No	No	Double prism configuration and birefringent MgF₂ or YVO₄ produce a small deviation angle with a high extinction ratio. Extraordinary ray deviates from the input beam's optical axis, while ordinary ray does not deviate.
Beam Displacing Prisms	Calcite	2.7 or 4.0 mm Beam Displacement	No	No	Single prism configuration and birefringent calcite separate an input beam into two orthogonally polarized output beams. s-pol. and p-pol. are displaced by 2.7 or 4.0 mm. Beam displacing prisms can be used as polarizing beamsplitters where 90^o separation is not possible.
Fresnel Rhomb Retarders	N-BK7	Linear to circular polarization Vertical Offset	No	No	λ/4 Fresnel Rhomb Retarder turns a linear input into circularly polarized output. Uniform λ/4 retardance over a wider wavelength range compared to birefringent wave plates.
Fresnel Rhomb Retarders	N-BK7	Rotates linearly polarized light 90°	No	No	λ/2 Fresnel Rhomb Retarder rotates linearly polarized light 90°. Uniform λ/2 retardance over a wider wavelength range compared to birefringent wave plates.

S-polarized light is not pure and contains some P-polarized reflections.

Beamsplitter Prisms

Prism	Material	Deviation	Invert	Reverse or Rotate	Illustration	Applications
Beamsplitter Cubes	N-BK7	50:50 splitting ratio, 0° and 90° s- and p- pol. within 10% of each other	No	No		Double prism configuration and dielectric coating provide 50:50 beamsplitting nearly independent of polarization. Non-polarizing beamsplitter over the specified wavelength range.
Polarizing Beamsplitter Cubes	N-BK7, UV Fused Silica, or N-SF1	p-pol. - 0° s-pol. - 90°	No	No		Double prism configuration and dielectric coating transmit p-pol. light and reflect s-pol. light. For highest polarization use the transmitted beam.

Prism

Material

Deviation

Invert

Reverse or Rotate

Illustration

Applications

Beamsplitter Cubes

N-BK7

50:50 splitting ratio, 0° and 90°

s- and p- pol. within 10% of each other

Double prism configuration and dielectric coating provide 50:50 beamsplitting nearly independent of polarization.

Non-polarizing beamsplitter over the specified wavelength range.

Polarizing Beamsplitter Cubes

N-BK7, UV Fused Silica, or N-SF1

p-pol. - 0°

s-pol. - 90°

Double prism configuration and dielectric coating transmit p-pol. light and reflect s-pol. light.

For highest polarization use the transmitted beam.

30 mm Cage-Cube-Mounted Optics Selection Guide

The table below provides links to all of our 30 mm Cage-Cube-Mounted optics. For our selection of 16 mm Cage-Cube-Mounted Optics, please see our 16 mm Cage Systems guide.


Non-Polarizing Beamsplitter Cube	Polarizing Beamsplitter Cube	High-Power Polarizing Beamsplitter Cube

Pellicle Beamsplitters	Laser Line Polarizing Beamsplitter Cube	Circular / Variable Polarizers

Penta Prisms	Turning Mirrors	Variable Beamsplitters / Attenuators

30 mm Cage Cube Empty Optic Mounts Selection Guide


Rectangular Dichroic Mirrors and Filters	Empty Compact 30 mm Cage Cube

Posted Comments:

user (posted 2017-06-14 19:25:59.073)

I understand the prism is epoxied to the mount, but can the two parts of the mount still be separated? I would like the prism (with one half of the mount) to be removable from my optical setup.

tfrisch (posted 2017-06-26 04:09:50.0)

Hello, thank you for contacting Thorlabs. The cage on top of the base can be removed by removing the 4 screws along the bottom of the cage. This would mean the setup would have to be attached to the cage and the base could drop out if you do not post mount the base. Please reach out to TechSupport@Thorlabs.com if you would like to discuss further.