1. A process for making single pigmented dispersions which comprises:
(a) charging the components of a single pigment liquid dispersion into a mixing vessel;
(b) grinding the components together to form a liquid dispersion;
(c) passing the liquid dispersion through a transmittance cell coupled to a spectrophotometer;
(d) measuring the spectral transmittance of the wet dispersion over the visible spectrum;
(e) calculating the optical density of the dispersion at two specific wavelengths from the transmittance measurements and comparing the ratio of optical density values at the two specific wavelengths to that of a known standard dispersion to determine achievement of the desired particle size;
(f) repeating steps (b)-(e) at least once in the event the dispersion is not within the desired particle size tolerance until the dispersion being manufactured is within said desired particle size tolerance; and
(g) determining the pigment concentration of the dispersion and its relative tinting strength as compared to a standard by comparing the optical density value at a selected wavelength to that of a known standard of equivalent particle size, or by comparing the absorbance or transmittance spectrum of the dispersion with that of a known standard, either by integration or by fitting.
2. The process of claim 1, which further comprises:
(h) analyzing the spectral transmittance of the resulting dispersion to determine color acceptability of this dispersion, thus fully characterizing the dispersion.
3. The process of claim 1, in which in step (c) the liquid dispersion is delivered directly from the dispersion unit to the transmittance cell.
4. The process of claim 1, in which the calculations are performed by a computer.
5. The process of claim 3, in which the process is automated.
6. The process of claim 1, in which the process is continuous.
7. The process of claim 1, in which the dispersion is a transparent dispersion.
8. The process of claim 1, in which the dispersion is an opaque dispersion.
9. Use of a dispersion made by the process of claim 1 in a paint.
10. Use of a dispersion made by the process of claim 1 in an ink jet ink.
11. The process of claim 1, in which the optical density in step (e) is calculated at the wavelengths of maximum and minimum absorption.
12. The process of claim 1, in which the optical density in step (e) is calculated at wavelengths of high absorption and minimum absorption.
13. The process of claim 1, in which in step (g) integration is used and it is carried out by the L* method.
14. The process of claim 1, in which in step (g) fitting is used and it is carried out by the least squares method.
15. The process of claim 2, in which in step (h) color acceptability is determined by use of standard color difference equations, taking the difference between the color of the dispersion as measured by its transmittance spectrum, and that of a known standard dispersion with a color acceptability within predetermined tolerances.
16. The process of claim 1, in which the process is used to determine the end-point of the grind.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An optical element comprising:
a diffraction grating having a periodic structure made from a plurality of grating grooves and formed to allow control of an amount of outgoing light using polarization-dependent characteristics when incident light is outputted as the outgoing light; and
a mark indicating at least one of either a grating groove direction of the diffraction grating or a periodic direction of the diffraction grating; and wherein
a photonic element that can perform at least one of either light emission or light reception can be fixed and, when the photonic element is fixed, the optical element is formed to be fixed to the photonic element after at least one of either an optical element main body or the photonic element is rotated around an optical axis and adjusted so that the amount of outgoing light controlled by the diffraction grating becomes a desired amount of light; and
the mark is formed at a position on the optical element main body allowing identification from an optical axis direction.
2. The optical element according to claim 1, wherein:
the optical element is an optical module holder in which an optical transmission line attaching section to which an end of an optical transmission line is attached is formed on one side of the diffraction grating in the optical axis direction, a photonic element fixing section that fixes the photonic element after rotation and adjustment is performed is formed on another side of the diffraction grating in the optical axis direction, and a lens surface is formed between the diffraction grating and the photonic element fixing section.
3. An optical module comprising the optical element according to claim 1 and a photonic element.
4. An optical connector comprising the optical module according to claim 3 and a housing that stores the optical module.
5. The optical element according to claim 1 or 2, wherein:
a duty ratio of the diffraction grating is equal to or more than 0.1 and equal to or less than 0.25.
6. The optical element according to claim 1 or 2, wherein:
the diffraction grating is a light-transmitting diffraction grating that outputs incident light by transmission, and the diffraction grating and the mark are formed from a same resin material.
7. The optical element according to claim 1 or 2, wherein
the diffraction grating is formed to allow individual control of the amount of outgoing light regarding a plurality of lights having differing wavelengths.
8. An optical module manufacturing method wherein:
when an optical module is manufactured by a photonic element that performs at least one of either light emission or light reception being fixed onto an optical module holder including a diffraction grating having a period structure formed from a plurality of grating grooves and formed to allow control of an amount of outgoing light using polarization-dependent characteristics when an incident light is outputted as the outgoing light and a mark indicating at least one of either a grating groove direction of the diffraction grating or a period direction of the diffraction grating, the photonic element is fixed onto the optical module holder after at least one of either the optical module holder or the photonic element is rotated and adjusted so that an amount of outgoing light controlled by a diffraction grating is a desired amount, while a direction indicated by the mark is confirmed.