Optical scanners is defined as all those optics and optical devices that are able to read the text or illustrations printed on paper and further translate the information into a form which can be easily understood by the computer. Their methodology involves digitization of images which means that the scanner divides the captured image or code into a grid of boxes and representing each box with either a zero or a one, depending on whether the box is filled in. One should be aware that these optical scanners are not equipped with the facility of distinguishing text from illustrations and hence it is not possible to directly edit text that has been scanned. For editing purposes one needs to invest in an optical character recognition (OCR ) system that will do the requisite.

This article talks about the various new innovations that are taking place in the optics and optical industry at every moment. New technologies that are better and more convenient than the previous ones are flooding the market and thus, the manufacturers and suppliers of these optical components are forced to expand their reach.

Today, the applications of these optical scanners has reached a very vast expanse including bar code readers and laser printers that are used in various industries like medicine, laboratory equipment and corneal resurfacing for a variety of purposes.

To expand its application further, a new scanner that uses a MEMS actuator has been launched. This scanner installs an electrostatic micro electromechanical system actuator that helps it to steer an optical beam. Some of the main features of this scanner includes 500 Å thick conformal coating of parylene that will help protect it from the harsh environmental conditions, 1.25 or 2.25 mm wide side scanning structures and a three-layer process with polyimide and gold on silicon wafers. The optical scan angles which reaches up to 146° is also a unique feature of this device.

Another product in the optics and optical market is the optical sensors that come with highly efficient power lenses. This device is equipped with a special lens that aids it in maximizing the total percent of focused laser light which passes through a collimating aperture. Also employed are laser diodes that act as a wall in modifying light from the lens. Available in the options of gradient index (grin) lens, bi-zonal lens or an axicon lens, these optical scanners focus light with assistance of the axicon lens in order to detect the signals on the bear code labels.