Alignment of an optical axis to a rotating mechanical axis using grating phase modulation

Cynthia L. Vernold; Tomas D. Milster

doi:10.1117/12.231037

5 February 1996 Alignment of an optical axis to a rotating mechanical axis using grating phase modulation

Cynthia L. Vernold, Tomas D. Milster

Proceedings Volume 2730, Second Iberoamerican Meeting on Optics; (1996) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.231037
Event: Second Iberoamerican Meeting on Optics, 1995, Guanajuato, Mexico

Abstract

We describe a technique for aligning the axis of an optical system to the axis of a rotating mechanical system. The optical system is focused onto a linear grating that rotates in conjunction with the mechanical system. Light reflected from the grating produces an interference pattern in the pupil of the optical system. Temporal modulation of the fringes in the interference pattern is observed as the mechanical system rotates of the optical and mechanical axes are misaligned. Our application for this technique is in aligning an optical and mechanical system for writing circularly symmetric computer generated holograms. Experimentally we demonstrate alignments to accuracies of 0.1 micrometers.

Citation Download Citation

Cynthia L. Vernold and Tomas D. Milster "Alignment of an optical axis to a rotating mechanical axis using grating phase modulation", Proc. SPIE 2730, Second Iberoamerican Meeting on Optics, (5 February 1996); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.231037

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