[Ian, Torrey]

There are a few options for good viewing cards for 1550 nm. I lay out some of the options here. A good resource is this Adakari Group elog post 

1. ThorLabs VRC2 ($94) is a good option and is made of durable plastic. They are currently used in the Cryo Lab but the VRC4 may be better. Might be hard to punch holes in. Both ThorLabs cards have the same minimum detectable power which seems to be comparable to or better than the Newport F-IRC4. 
2. ThorLabs VRC4 ($94) Same build as the VRC2 but sensitive to narrower bands (790-840 nm, 870-1070 nm, and 1500-1590 nm).
3. Edmund Optics Laser Detection Card This used to be cheaper but may be good to test. I haven't used it before.
4. Newport F-IRC2 ($195) This is the card I see most often it has a minimum detectable power of 8 µW/cm²  from 800-1700 nm and is laminated so it would need to have holes cut carefully. It also comes in smaller and cheaper sizes (See F-IRC2-F, and F-IRC2-S). This is also used in the Cryo Lab.
5. Newport F-IRC4 ($205) Basically the same as the Newport F-IRC2 but with shifted bandwidth (700-1600 nm) and lower detectable power (3 µW/cm²).  Also comes in one smaller size (See F-IRC4-S)

We should get a variety for different applications and also to test them out. we will spend a lot of time looking at them so we really do want them to be good.