Al - I'll admit I'm an ME not an EE, so when I look at these things they make little sense.
I've got photo-switches here at the plant that have a reflector and check for part present. We also use laser-switches. We also have photo-prox switches.
These all send simple on/off voltages to either digital or analog inputs.
So when I see something like this:
http://www.toshiba.com/taec/componen...eet/Tlp351.pdf
I'm haven't the faintest how to turn that into ball detecting sensor. Any hints?