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Robert E. Parks and William P. KuhnOptical Perspectives Group, LLC, 9181 E. Ocotillo Drive, Tucson, AZ 85749 ABSTRACT We give an example of a Point Source Microscope (PSM) and describe its uses as an aid in the alignment of optical systems including the referencing of optical to mechanical datums. The PSM is a small package […]

From the beginning we have said that centering a lens meant aligning the optical axis of the lens to a reference axis. Up to this point we have assumed the axis was the mechanical axis of a rotary table. Because there are disadvantages to using a rotary table, I was curious to see if there […]

A convenient and concrete example of aligning three centers of curvature is the cementing of the doublet we used in the optical axis example in Chapter 5, the details of which are reproduced below. Fig. 1 Doublet used as an example of aligning three centers of curvature The goal is to get all three centers […]

In the previous chapter we looked at finding a single center of curvature using any of several optical instruments. This locates a particular point in space but does not define an axis. For that, two centers of curvature separated by a finite axial distance must be located to define an axis, or line. This chapter […]

In this Chapter we will discuss the centering of a single center of curvature of a lens in a cell sitting on a rotary table that creates a reference axis. This discussion describes the traditional method of centering a lens in a cell. While this does not sound like an ambitious goal, the ideas presented […]

The purpose of optical alignment is making the optical axis of an optical element, or complete system, coaxial with some other axis that is defined by other optical or mechanical components. This means we must start the discussion of optical alignment by making sure we all mean the same thing when we say the optical […]