Collimation and beam alignment: testing and estimation using liquid-crystal televisions

Narasimha S. Prasad; Sean M. Doyle; Michael K. Giles

doi:10.1117/1.600771

1 July 1996 Collimation and beam alignment: testing and estimation using liquid-crystal televisions

Narasimha S. Prasad, Sean M. Doyle, Michael K. Giles

Optical Engineering, Vol. 35, Issue 7, (July 1996). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.600771

We report a novel method to test and estimate collimation and beam alignment using a liquid-crystal TV (LCTV). In this technique, a lenslet array pattern generated using a computer program is ‘‘written’’ (transferred) as a video signal to the LCTV using an image-processing system. The image formed by this array at a suitable distance is grabbed using a CCD camera and processed using a centroid-finding algorithm. Experimentally, deviations from collimation and beam alignment as small as 10 µm have been detected. Using a LCTV, it is possible to obtain near-perfect collimation and beam alignment. This technique will be used to achieve initial system collimation and/or alignment and as an aid in automating optical systems that are required to maintain constant collimation and beam alignment.

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Narasimha S. Prasad, Sean M. Doyle, and Michael K. Giles "Collimation and beam alignment: testing and estimation using liquid-crystal televisions," Optical Engineering 35(7), (1 July 1996). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.600771

Published: 1 July 1996

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