OEM Industrial Optical Mounts Selection Guide

OEM optical systems are often constructed in tight or restricted spaces. As such, every inch of real estate is precious, so compact components that meet performance requirements are most desired. Newport offers high precision mounts with slimmer profiles and smaller footprints than that of standard mounts for research applications.

Newport's OEM mounts use locking Allen-Key adjusters, which provide two benefits. Firstly, they are much more compact than adjustment knobs, saving even more space and allowing placement in tighter areas. Secondly, locking Allen-Key adjusters prevent unintended adjustment, providing users with a "set and forget" capability.

Optical mounts are often placed directly on a base or platform of an OEM optical system (i.e., they are usually not post-mounted). To aid in system construction, some of our OEM mounts include alignment pin holes on the bottom of the mount to enable keying of the position and orientation by means of dowel pins. This results in repeatable system integration and prevents clocking effects. (Note: Dowel pins not included with mounts.)

Epoxying an optic in place can improve performance and stability for OEM applications. Some of our OEM mounts include adhesive wells in the aperture to facilitate permanently bonding the optic to the mount.

One way to enhance long-term stability is with extra stiff springs, which can better resist misalignment from shock and vibration. Another method to improve stability is through choice of construction material. Stainless steel is three times stiffer than aluminum, so it flexes significantly less and allows easier alignment. Furthermore, stainless steel's coefficient of thermal expansion is lower than aluminum, making it more stable during temperature fluctuations.

By presenting only the features intended for "set and forget" capability (and eliminating many features desired in research applications), flexure mounts are specifically designed for OEM applications. The spring-steel element of a flexure mount provides the means for angular positioning. The double-duty ability of the flexure provides both guided rotation as well as the spring force, enabling a more compact design.

Newport offers many standard, low-outgassing OEM mounts compatible with demanding vacuum and clean environments. Our mounts also incorporate high performance features for more challenging OEM applications, such as Low Wavefront Distortion mounts that hold optics in a way that minimizes wavefront distortion. Many of our mounts feature 100-TPI adjusters, and for ultra-high precision, some include 127-TPI adjusters.