Three-Point Nesting Optical Mount for Flat Surface
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional optical mount designs for thin film interference filters, such as dichroic beam splitters, face challenges in maintaining surface flatness, which affects the performance of optical systems like fluorescence microscopy, leading to issues like focal plane shifts and image distortion, especially when using laser light, and existing solutions like encasement introduce optical problems like absorption and scattering.
Innovation Solution
A three-point nesting force optical mount apparatus with a frame and clamping plate that applies contact points to maintain the optical surface in a plane, using opposed spheres and leaf springs to constrain unwanted movement and ensure high flatness tolerances, allowing for precise alignment and handling of optical components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional optical mount designs are used to hold thin film interference filters, then the filters can be mounted and used, but the surface flatness cannot be maintained within tight tolerances, leading to focal plane shifts and image distortion
Solution Approach 1:
The mount design segments the flat surface into multiple discrete contact points (at least three) distributed across the surface. This segmentation allows each contact point to independently support the surface without introducing stress that would cause warping, while collectively maintaining the required flatness tolerance across the entire surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The contact points are implemented as spherical elements rather than flat surfaces. This spherical geometry ensures point contact with the optical filter surface, minimizing the contact area and preventing stress distribution that would cause surface deformation. The spheres maintain flatness by concentrating support forces at discrete locations.
2Reliability
If encasement solutions with prisms are used to protect dichroic coatings, then the coatings are protected, but optical problems such as absorption, scattering, and alignment difficulties arise
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the protective function from the traditional prism encasement structure and implements it through a separate mount apparatus. The optical filter is held directly by the mount with point contact support, eliminating the need for enclosing prisms that cause optical absorption and scattering. The protection is achieved through mechanical support rather than physical encasement.
Solution Approach 2:
The spherical contact points serve as intermediaries between the mount structure and the optical filter surface. These spheres provide mechanical support and protection without introducing the optical path problems associated with prism encasement. The contact points mediate the interaction between the mounting mechanism and the delicate optical coating.
3Manufacturing precision
If thin film deposition techniques such as ion beam sputtering are used to form dichroic coatings, then high quality filters are produced, but significant mechanical stress is added that causes substrate bending and warping
Solution Approach 1:
The mount design incorporates preliminary anti-action by using a compliant support structure with discrete spherical contact points that counteract the stress-induced warping from the deposition process. The mount is designed to accommodate and compensate for the inherent stresses in the coated substrate, preventing the stress from manifesting as surface deformation during use.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the mechanical support parameters by transitioning from continuous or broad-area contact to discrete point contact through spherical elements. This parameter change in the contact geometry allows the substrate to maintain its stressed shape from deposition while the mount accommodates this shape, preventing additional warping during operation.
4Productivity
If laser light is used in fluorescence microscopy, then high intensity and precision are achieved, but surface flatness requirements become more stringent, making dichroic surfaces more costly
Solution Approach 1:
The mount design incorporates dynamic compliance through the spherical contact points and mounting structure, allowing the system to adapt to slight variations in substrate shape while maintaining optical performance. This dynamic capability enables the use of standard deposition-tolerant substrates even in laser applications requiring high flatness, as the mount compensates for minor deviations.
Data Source
AI summary
An optical apparatus has an optic having a first flat surface and a second surface opposite the first flat surface. A frame has a first fixed contact point, a second fixed contact point, and a third fixed contact point that extend from the frame. The first surface of the optic seats against the first, second, and third fixed contact points. A clamping plate applies a three-point nesting force by extending, against the second flat surface of the optic, a first opposing contact point aligned with the first fixed contact point, a second opposing contact point aligned with the second fixed contact point, and a third opposing contact point aligned with the third fixed contact point.