Newport’s stainless steel Suprema® Industrial Mirror Mounts are specifically designed for “Set and Forget” OEM applications. They all have the features necessary for industrial applications: 1) slim and compact geometry, 2) hex key (knobless) adjusters to save space and prevent tampering. 3) locking for added long-term stability.
Suprema Industrial Mounts were tested against the best competitive mounts and demonstrated superior drift stability as shown in the graph.
Every Suprema mount is heat treated as part of the fabrication process. Heat treating relieves the build up of fabrication stresses which improves the overall stability of the mount.
All Suprema mirror mounts are made from stainless steel making them the most stable and easiest to align. Stainless steel is 3X stiffer than aluminum so it flexes significantly less allowing easier alignment. Stainless steel's coefficient of thermal expansion is lower than aluminum making it more stable during temperature fluctuations. Stainless steel makes Suprema the flag ship of Newport’s mirror mount offering.
Suprema industrial mirror mounts feature Allen-key adjustments to save space and prevent unintended adjustment.For long-term stability, screw lock is included in select models. The jam nut lock, used for SS100 mount, and hex broach lock, used for SS050 mount, exert an axial force on the adjustment screw which locks the mirror mount's alignment in place. These locks can be tightened either by hand or by using an Allen-key.
The Suprema Hex-Driven Low-Drift mounts are offered in both front- and rear-loading versions. Installing a mirror from the front is more convenient, which can be useful when replacing mirrors without having to disrupt an optical system setup or remove its components. Rear-loading a mirror guarantees that the reflective surface will be flat on the face of the mount irrespective of the mirror's thickness.
The SS050 models feature alignment pin holes on the bottom (base) of the mount to enable keying of the position and orientation by means of dowel pins when directly mounting. (Note: Dowel pins not included with mount.) This is especially helpful in OEM applications.
Purpose:
Newport's thermal drift testing of mirror mounts has two purposes: (1) to measure the maximum deflection during a peak temperature shift (after a soaking period) and (2) to measure the shift in position after temperature cycling and return to initial temperature.
Method:
A mirror mount, with mirror installed, was securely fixed to a 1.5"-diameter solid steel pedestal post. This assembly was then placed inside of a climate-controlled environmental chamber and mounted to a stainless steel optical table. Upon fastening to the table, the mirror mount was set to nominal and zeroed to set the initial position. Throughout the test, an independently thermally isolated CONEX-LDS Autocollimator was used to monitor the reflected beam position. After initial alignment adjustments, the mirror mount was left to rest for two hours to allow the internal kinematic forces to reach equilibrium. Then, the mirror mount was subjected to a 10°C increase in temperature for one hour through convection heating. After a thermal soaking period to ensure the mount is sufficiently heated through, the mirror mount was returned to its original temperature, completing a cycle. This temperature cycling process was repeated 10 times over the duration of 62 hours, with deflection during peak temperature and shift after the end of each cycle recorded.
The maximum deflection of the SS100-F3H mirror mount during peak temperature was 7 µrad in pitch and 10 µrad in yaw, and the shift in reflected beam position after temperature cycling was < 2 µrad in pitch and < 1 µrad in yaw. This demonstrates the mount's excellent thermal properties. Further details are shown in the accompanying graphs.
The maximum deflection of the SS050-R3 mirror mount during peak temperature was 8 µrad in pitch and 3 µrad in yaw, and the shift in reflected beam position after temperature cycling was < 2 µrad in pitch and < 1 µrad in yaw. This demonstrates the mount's excellent thermal properties. Further details are shown in the accompanying graphs.
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