Using the PSM as an Autocollimator
The other day I got a call from a PSM user asking about calibration. What he was really asking about was the setting of the zero, or origin, on the video screen.
Articles in Category: Applications
APPLICATIONS ARCHIVE
Continuing in 2021, we feature an Application of the Point Source Microscope (PSM) every month or so.
Adding mechanical datums to CGHs and Fresnel mirrors
In general, computer generated holograms (CGHs) and plane Fresnel mirrors (and lenses), made by the same techniques as CGHs, have optical “datums” or foci that are “rigidly attached” to the CGH or Fresnel plane substrate and move in six degrees of freedom with the substrate.
How repeatably can the Point Source Microscope find best focus at a center of curvature?
Recently, a client asked how well can you focus if you really had to do better? I did not know but it was easy to do an experiment with our centering station that has a motorized stage and the ability to log data as the stage moves.
How well can the Point Source Microscope (PSM) locate the source of a single mode fiber?
I needed to measure the height of a free space fiber termination above an optical bench the other day and in the process remembered a question I had been asked in passing. Since I had the pieces of such an experiment in front of me, all I had to do was save a couple of images.
Measuring the radius of curvature of a spherical surface
This month's PSM application describes measuring the radius of curvature of a spherical surface.
Report on finding best focus of slow systems
Experimental setup:
A Point Source Microscope (PSM) was mounted on a motorized vertical stage above a 25 mm diameter, 200 mm efl lens sitting above a plane mirror. A square black paper mask with an 8 mm diameter hole was placed over the lens as shown in the figure below to give an f/25 aperture.
PSM mounting hardware
Customers purchasing a PSM often ask me if we offer mounting hardware for the PSM like x-y-z stages.
Can the PSM find best focus of an f/25 optical system?
Can the PSM find best focus of an f/25 optical system to less than ± 10 μm?
Rapid centering small lenses using an Axicon grating and the PSM
A combination of the Auto Gain function of the Point Source Microscope (PSM) and the use of an Axicon grating make centering of severely misaligned lenses easy.
How the PSM caught a potential problem
Recently a customer was using the Point Source Microscope (PSM) to align a slow, singlet objective lens and find its focus.
