Mounting Optical Components Class

Description

MOUNTING OPTICAL COMPONENTS CLASS

This half-day course is an introduction to optical mounting and bonding techniques for lenses and mirrors. Oriented towards practicing engineers and managers, examples are used to show how mount design is driven by a combination of environmental, performance, and cost requirements. Standard industry practices and common mounting techniques are reviewed, including:

• Mounting of lenses into cells using adhesives or retaining rings

• Mounting of small-to-moderate size mirrors (< 1 m) using adhesives, flexures, etc. to minimize optical surface strain and wavefront error (WFE)

• A comparison of epoxy vs. RTV adhesives

This class is based on Dr. Kasunic's published papers and his textbook, Optomechanical Systems Engineering (John Wiley, 2015).

LEARNING OUTCOMES

This course will enable the student to:

• Identify critical variables of the optic-to-mount interface, including stresses and assembly tolerances (tilt, decenter, and despace)

• Compare alternate low-stress mounting techniques for lenses and mirrors

• Incorporate vibration and thermal loading considerations into mount designs

INSTRUCTOR

Keith J. Kasunic has more than 35 years of experience developing optical, electro-optical, infrared, and laser systems. He holds a Ph.D. in Optical Sciences from the University of Arizona, an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. He has worked for or been a consultant to a number of organizations, including Lockheed Martin, Ball Aerospace, Sandia National Labs, and Nortel Networks; he is currently the Technical Director of Optical Systems Group, LLC. He is also an Adjunct Professor and Instructor at Univ. of North Carolina – Charlotte (UNCC), as well as an Affiliate Instructor with Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), and an Instructor for the Optical Engineering Certificate Program at Univ. of California – Irvine (UCI).