Selection and Alignment of Optical Components

The successful design of an optical experiment requires the correct choice and installation of its component parts. This chapter discusses the principles of operation, fabrication, and alignment of the most common optical elements. 

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The success of an optical measurement will be controlled by the quality of the optical components that make up the instrument, and the accuracy of their alignment. For this reason, Chapter 9 is devoted to the selection of specific components to accomplish a required task. Since such a decision is influenced by the construction of an element, the underlying physics and design criteria used in the manufacture of optical components are presented. This discussion is combined with alignment protocols that the author and his students have found useful in their own laboratory. 

While the dial-indicator and optical methods differ in the equipment and/or equipment setup used to align machine components, the theory on which they are based is essentially identical. Each method measures the offset and angularity of the shafts of movable components in reference to a pre-selected stationary component. Each assumes that the stationary unit is properly installed and that good mounting, shimming, and bolting techniques are used on all machine components. 

The confocal epifluorescent detection scheme we use is common among many who use this detection mode and features a cube-and-rail assembly system, specifically the microbench system from LINOS Photonics (Milford, MA) on an optical breadboard to maintain proper alignment of components (Figure 45.13). The excitation source is a multiline argon ion gas laser (model Reliant 150 m. Laser Physics, West Jordan, UT) that features user-selectable wavelengths (457,488, and 514 nm)... 

This work demonstrates local control of the orientation of the microstructure of a block copolymer at a surface and could lead to a variety of devices. The authors point out that by making one component of the block copolymer conductive [38,41-43J after alignment, for example, by selective decoration of one component with a metal [44], a set of parallel nanoscale quantum wires could be made. Alternatively, if one component was liquid crystalline, then novel electro-optic materials could be constructed. 

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