Optical manufacture

Many lens casters use the term hard-resin lenses for DADC products companies and trade names include American Optical (Aoflte ), Cobum (Supremacy I), Optical Radiation (Orcoflte), and Silor Optical (Orma 1000). Additional information can be obtained from the Optical Manufacturers Association, Falls Church, Va. Cast sheets of homopolymer and copolymers are suppHed by the SGL Homalite Company, Foster Grant, and others. 

OAE4 (Optical Manufacturers Association) National Consumer Eyewear Study HZ, Falls Church, Va., 1990. 

The fiber-optics industry has a global presence however, the United States is a major player, dominating the optical cable and fiber markets internationally. According to market-research firm First Research, the U.S. glass and fiber-optic manufacturing industry includes about 2,000 companies with combined annual revenue of 20 billion. The majority of the market is concentrated on companies such as Gorning and PPG Industries, and 80 percent of the market is captured by the fifty largest companies. Japan and the countries of the European Union are also instrumental in the fiber-optic communications industries as both manufacturers and consumers. 

Laser interferometers have hugely affected the quality control of lenses in the optical-manufacturing industries. Interferometers are the method of choice to measure curvature and smoothness of lenses used in microscopes, telescopes, and eyeglasses. Companies specializing in optical measurements are available for on- or off-site testing of optical components. Astronomy, in particular, has benefited from the precision testing of polished surfaces made possible by laser interferometers mirrors such as the ones used in the Hubble Space Telescope would not be possible without a laser interferometry testing system. 

Ocean Optics manufactures a line of handheld spectrometers that are ideal for performing analyses on the go. 

It is essential to mount the microscope, laser, and the associated optical components to a vibration-damping optical table. Optical post and rail hardware are used (available from optics manufacturers, such as Newport Corp.) to position the laser and its associated optical elements. The microscope should be securely bolted to the table. The only element that needs to be finely adjusted is the focusing lens, which should be mounted in a 5-axis lens micropositioner. 

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