Published Papers

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 […]

There is no better way to describe an autostigmatic microscope (ASM) than to call it an autocollimator (AC) with a microscope objective attached to the front. This converts the AC from an instrument that measures 2 angular degrees of freedom (DOF) into an instrument that measures the location of the center of curvature of a […]

Authors: Robert E. Parks (Optical Perspectives Group, LLC) and Daewook Kim (J. C. Wyant College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona). INTRODUCTION Following the discovery of so called non-diffracting Bessel beams[1], they have been used for a number of exotic purposes such as trapping single atoms and aiding in the discovery of exoplanets. We discuss more […]

Fig. 1 A simple collimator with a point source of illumination. An illuminated target in the same plane could serve as the source. Collimators are used as a light source for testing camera lenses on a nodal slide optical bench. The collimator simulates a point source, or in astronomical terms, a star, at infinity. For lens […]

In the Introduction to this series of articles on optical alignment, I said there were three basic methods of alignment. This article presents my thoughts on these methods. My approach may be a bit unconventional, but I hope this way of beginning makes the whole idea of alignment easier to understand. To illustrate the three […]

Introduction to a Series of Articles on Optical Alignment For some time, I have been encouraged to write a book about optical alignment. There have been several half-hearted attempts at beginning, but it never seemed there was enough to talk about and I kept finding new ideas about alignment. I didn’t want the book to […]