Applying MRF® to Errors Caused by Optical and Opto-mechanical Assembly

Optical system designers are well-versed in optimizing the performance of a system. The impact of the optical and optomechanical assembly, however, poses a significant challenge to attaining the modelled performance in practice. The system engineers are tasked with designing tooling, fixtures and procedures that minimize such impacts, employing well known modeling and analysis techniques. Despite these efforts the resulting system performance often exhibits errors that can be directly related to the assembly process. In the face of lost system performance, the optical designer can compensate with more stringent component and alignment specifications. Alternatively, at the risk of a more complex design, she can consider active compensation, or the addition of compensation components. Yet another path is correcting the components after assembly to regain the original optical performance. MRF is well known for its ability to produce state of the art optical components, lenses, mirrors, etc. In this paper we will explore and demonstrate its application to correcting errors induced by various assembly techniques by reviewing several examples, their respective challenges and the results of the post assembly corrections.