Autocollimator, Alignment, Telescope
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
An Autocollimator Alignment Telescope has been designed and developed projecting a low power (less than 70 mW) laser light beam along an optically straight path, establishing a reference line of sight. The Alignment Telescope uses a quadrate cell photodetector and a target mirror.
The Alignment Telescope emits a small, coherent beam of light approximately 1 mm in diameter. This Laser light beam is transmitted through an enlarging lens. The lens expands the beam to a diameter of approximately 1 cm. It has a positive rear lens that brings the Laser light beam to a focus. At this focal plane, there is a spatial filter that suppresses scattered light and provides a sharp symmetrical beam at the objective lens.
The Alignment Telescope contains an internal prism assembly and a pair of photodetectors for monitoring the direction of the returning light beam reflected from a target mirror during autocollimation. A knife-edge reflector, not the two photodetectors, separates each field of view into two equal parts. The knife-edges are at the focal plane of the returning light beam resulting in a true autocollimating system rather than an autoreflecting system. A beam splitter in the return path of the laser light beam decouples the two photodetectors. The two photodetectors function independently of each other in two orthogonal planes (x and y), providing cent ration monitoring of the returning light beam at the focal plane. The Autocollimating prism assembly contains a quarter-wave plate preventing optical feedback into the Laser cavity.
Source: Cubic Precision Magazine, K&E Electro-Optical Products, Manual No. 71, 1001-1004 Reference: None available
Industrial Products
posted by JD52 @ 8:04 PM,
