Constraining the path of an infrared LED

For a typical 905nm (TV remote type) infrared led, most simple lenses will work pretty much the same as for a deep red led.
A B+W security camera is very useful for setup and focussing.

 

Using a short length of tubing will keep the beam fairly narrow over a couple feet.
The method you need to use depends on your exact requirements.

 

Depends on how you define constrained, but this has a 7 degree beamwidth...

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/searchBrowseAction.html?method=getProduct&R=0195467


And in the distant past, I modified something like this...

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/search/searchBrowseAction.html?method=searchProducts&searchTerm=3693829

by changing the diode.

 

I wouldn't know if my TV remote is IR or UV. Out of curiosity I tried my cell phone camera. It picks up the LED output, and displays it as pale blue.

 

Out of curiosity I tried my remote on a web cam.
It's definitely an IR remote, but it does indeed show blue.

Looks like the camera color processing folds redder than red back over into blue.
I wonder if a UV source would show up as red for the same reason.
I don't have a UV source to try this.

 

The fiberoptics we used in labs at school had IR emitters that were encased in reflective material, so all the energy went into the fiber. BTW, have you thought of using an optical fiber to contain the beam?

 

I don't have a web cam for comparison, so still using the cell camera.

I've been racking my brain for a UV source. It dawned on me, I had an old UV windowed eprom eraser. There's no filter over the tube. My samsung verizon cellphone camera picks up the light and displays it as saturated white surrounded by pale blue. The direct TV remote has a very dark red lense over the LEDs. On closer inspection, the LEDs are displayed as saturated white, and what I percieve as a surrounding pale red halo, itself surrounded with a pale blue halo.

I should add that I've been placing the camera too close to focus.

 

My IR shows saturated white to dark blue depending on how much I attenuate the beam.
Didn't notice any haloing effect that I can see. The image on the PC is fairly large compared to a cell phone.
I have a few UV sources, like your eprom eraser, but they all produce far to much visible light.

 

Can you explain more about what you are trying to do? I thought you were using IR ... laser pointers are generally visible light. What about a simple lens and an LED (IR or visible)?

Anyway, I see laser pointers at my local Ace Hardware store for around $5 or $10.