Published Papers

ABSTRACT: Talk is largely tutorial by has a two-fold motivation Definitions of kinds of alignmentInitial alignment steps to get light into alignment sensor-autostigmatic microscope, alignment telescope or interferometer Systematic alignment steps using the alignment sensor. Good idea to have a written procedure because many steps Alignment results using real hardware. Robert E. Parks, Benjamin F. […]

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 […]

ABSTRACT Traditionally a rotary table is used for optical centering because the table creates an axis as a reference. Previously, we showed that a Bessel beam also creates an axis useful for centering. The Bessel beam axis and a center of curvature of a surface makes it possible to center an optic simultaneously in tilt […]

ABSTRACT Bessel beams are useful for alignment because they create a small diameter, bright, straight line image in space perpendicular to the Axicon, or Axicon grating, producing the beam that is an exact analog of a single ray in a ray tracing program. Here we limit our discussion to Bessel beams produced by plane gratings […]

ABSTRACT Methods of centering without using a precision rotary table to establish a reference axis in space are several times faster than with a rotary table. However, finding an optimum method of establishing an alternative reference axis is challenging. We look at the small class of centering situations involving the precision cementing of doublets to […]

ABSTRACT Bessel beams have found use in the alignment of transmissive optics for some time. They are also used for the alignment of reflecting optics when used in the imaging mode, that is, when the wavefront is near spherical. However, there are cases where it would be useful to use the Bessel beam for alignment […]