JPH06208048A - Method for constituting optical system and optical system structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the cost of the optical system itself by improving operability regarding the positions and attitude adjustments of optical components, reducing the total size of the optical system and improving the portability, improving flexibility in the design modification of the optical system, and improving the versatility. CONSTITUTION:One optical component 7 is fixed by using a guide frame 10 for optical component mounting and a spacer frame 11 and one block consists of them. The guide frame 10 and spacer frame 11 are installed so that surfaces on a plane perpendicular to the optical axis of the block contact each other, thereby positioning the optical component 7 at a specific position. Then the block is fixed to a block constitution frame 12 to form the whole optical system in integrated structure.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of constructing an optical system and an optical system structure required for optical information processing such as optical communication and optical computer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, when adjusting the position and orientation of an object in a three-dimensional space, three axes (X, Y, Z) which are orthogonal to each other regardless of the adjusting mechanism and method, and these axes are used as the centers. The six axes of the three rotation axes (α, β, γ) must be adjusted (one or two rotation angles may not be necessary in special cases where the shape of the object is the object of rotation). On the other hand, in the configuration of the conventional optical system, the optical components are held by using holders having various shapes according to the shape of the optical components, and the position and orientation of each optical component are adjusted to adjust the optical axis of each optical component. In order to make the two coincide with each other, a method of using a holder provided with a mechanical adjustment mechanism and arranging these holders on an optical surface plate is adopted.

[0003]

However, in the construction work of such a conventional optical system, the optical components on the optical surface plate must be individually adjusted in six axes while irradiating a light beam in a dark environment. However, there is a problem that the work is complicated and that it takes a long time to realize the optical system. In addition, the optical components are held by a holder with a mechanism for adjusting the position and angle, and the holders are only arranged on the optical surface plate and do not form an integrated structure. However, there is a drawback in that it is difficult to realize, it cannot be transported and moved, and the place of use is limited. Furthermore, if there is a change in the component parts, the whole optical system must be readjusted, and there is also the problem of lack of flexibility in changing the design of the optical system. Since it does not exist, it is necessary to deal with each optical system individually, and as a result, the optical system itself is inevitably very expensive. As described above, the conventional optical construction method using the holder and the optical surface plate has many problems, and it cannot be a practical optical system as it is.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to improve workability in adjusting the position and posture of an optical component.
A method of constructing an optical system and a structure of the optical system, which are intended to reduce the cost of the optical system itself by reducing the size of the entire optical system and improving portability, improving flexibility in changing the design of the optical system, and improving versatility. To provide the body.

The basic idea of the present invention for solving these problems is as follows. (1) In order to improve the efficiency of position / orientation adjustment work of optical parts, the six-axis adjustment of optical parts is not performed in one operation, but the adjustment axis per adjustment is divided into two or more times. Make the adjustment work easier by reducing the number and devising the shape of the holder. Furthermore, it is not a limited place called an optical surface plate,
Perform in an environment where it is easy to work. (2) For downsizing and portability of the entire optical system, separate the holder that holds the optical components from the adjustment mechanism, and leave only the holder after adjustment to reduce the size. The portability is secured by fixing with a single structure. (3) Regarding the flexibility of changing the design of the optical system, group the parts necessary to realize a certain function into blocks,
By adding or removing this block as a unit to or from the optical system, the number of movement adjustments is reduced, and the optical connection can be obtained only by contacting the end faces of the block and simple adjustment. (4) To increase the cost of the optical system itself due to its non-universality, standardized parts such as guide frames are used to standardize the various optical parts to be assembled, making it easy to handle at the production stage. To reduce the production cost. As a method for realizing the above idea, in the present invention, a guide frame capable of fixing and holding any optical component with high accuracy without being affected by the shape and dimensions of the optical component is used, and a block composed of a single or a plurality of guide frames is used. An inventing method of constructing an optical system and an optical system structure in which these blocks are mechanically fixed by a housing frame to form an integral structure.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the method of constructing an optical system according to the present invention uses a guide frame for mounting optical components and a spacer frame for keeping the optical components at a predetermined interval. One optical component is fixed to one guide frame, and two or more optical component-equipped guide frames are combined to form a block through these optical component-equipped guide frames alone and at least one spacer frame. Positioning the optical component at a predetermined position by bringing surfaces of a block on a plane perpendicular to the optical axis into contact with each other, and further fixing the block to a frame forming a housing to form an integral structure. Is. Also,
An optical system structure according to the present invention is composed of an optical component, a guide frame, a spacer frame, a frame that constitutes a housing, and the like, which are created according to the above-described method of constructing an optical system, and has an integral structure as a whole. Is.

[0007]

In the method of constructing an optical system according to the present invention, a block for holding one optical component is constructed by using a guide frame for mounting an optical component and at least one spacer frame.
The guide frame and the spacer frame position the optical component at a predetermined position when the surfaces of the block on a plane perpendicular to the optical axis are in contact with each other. The block and the frame forming the housing form an optical system by being integrally coupled and fixed. An optical system structure according to the present invention is produced according to the above invention, and includes an optical component,
It is composed of a guide frame, a spacer frame, a frame that constitutes a housing, and the like, and has an integral structure as a whole.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a procedure of a method of constructing an optical system according to the present invention. In the figure, in the method of constructing an optical system according to the present invention, a step 1 of forming component parts such as a guide frame, a spacer frame, a block structure frame, a housing frame, etc. Step 2, Step 3 of alternately arranging the optical component mounting guide frame and the spacer frame to form a block having a predetermined function, and the surfaces on the plane perpendicular to the optical axis of these functional blocks are in contact with each other. Arranging, optical components are aligned in a predetermined position by using the housing frame, and finally mechanically fixed by the housing frame to form an optical system having an integral structure as a whole.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram when the optical component mounting guide frame 10 is produced by the above-mentioned step 2. Here, the purpose is to align the center 6 of the guide frame 5 with the optical axis 9 of the optical component 7. This can greatly simplify the subsequent adjustment work. Specifically, the mechanical center axis 6 determined based on the outer shape of the guide frame 5 (the pseudo optical axis 8 of the optical component 7 with respect to the central axis of the shape (the shape central axis of the optical component, the true optical axis 9 is in the vicinity thereof) Existing)
By aligning, the mechanical center axis 6 and the true optical axis 9 become parallel (two-axis tilt angle adjustment), and the true optical axis 9 and the mechanical center axis 6 match on the beam reference (XY axis adjustment). Then, the rotation angle γ on the XY plane determined by the shapes of both the guide frame 5 and the optical component 7 is adjusted. At this stage, the 5-axis adjustment other than the Z-axis that defines the distance between the optical components is completed.

FIG. 3 is a functional block configuration diagram created in the above step 3. First, a required number of two types of frames are alternately stacked so that the outer shapes of the optical component mounting guide frame 10 and the spacer frame 11 contact the block constituent frame 12. Here, the Z-axis adjustment is completed by combining the guide frame 10 and the spacer frame 11, and all the 6-axis adjustments necessary for determining the position and orientation of the object existing in the three-dimensional space are completed. At the same time, the true optical axes 9 of the plurality of optical components 7 mounted on the guide frame 10 coincide with each other, and it is possible to form a functional block that does not require angle and parallel movement adjustment in the subsequent optical system configuration operation.

The features of the guide frame 10 used here are that the external dimensions, parallelism, and flatness are highly accurate.
The shape of the internal hollow hole 10a can be changed according to the shape and size of the optical component 7 to be held, and dimensional accuracy is not required. On the other hand, in the spacer frame 11, parallelism, flatness, and dimensional accuracy of length of the front and rear surfaces that contact the guide frame 10 and define the distance between the optical components are important. However, since the length of the spacer frame 11 is determined by the combination of the optical components 7, a certain spacer frame is used only between specific optical components.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an optical system in which the functional blocks prepared in the above-mentioned step 4 are arranged on a housing frame to form an integral structure. The optical axes of the blocks 13 and 14 are determined on the basis of the outer circumference of the blocks, so that the true optical axes coincide with each other simply by arranging them on the housing frame 15. Then, the blocks 13 and 14 are mechanically fixed to the housing frame 15 to form an integral structure as a whole. This housing frame 1
With respect to No. 5, it is sufficient to have a structure capable of holding the entire optical system in an integral structure and a mechanical strength such that the optical axis is not deformed by an external force. Also, if it is necessary to change a part of the optical system configuration due to a change in the design of the optical system, remove the corresponding block, replace it with another block, or add a new block according to the changes. However, in any case, the connecting operation may be executed to configure the optical system shown in FIG. At this time, adjustment of the gap between the changed block and the blocks before and after it becomes a problem, but a spacer frame with a predetermined gap is used for this.

As described above, the point of the present invention is to standardize at the component level by mounting optical components having different shapes and sizes on the guide frame having the same specifications, and to block a plurality of components into one block. As a result, the standardization at the functional level was realized, and as a result, it became possible to construct a practical new optical system. The effects of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to examples.

FIG. 5 is a view showing an optical system for measuring aberration of a lens using a Savart plate. Reference numerals 20 and 21 are condenser lenses, 22 is an interference filter, 23 is a pinhole, 24 is a lens to be inspected, 25 and 26 are polarizers displaced by 90 °, 27 is a Savart plate, 28 is an imaging lens, and an illumination lamp 29 is used. Except for 9 optical components, they are functionally grouped into 4 functional blocks: a light source condensing unit 30, a measurement object 31, a detecting unit 32, and an observing unit 33.

A method of manufacturing a guide frame for mounting these optical parts and a spacer frame is shown in FIG.
It shows in (b). First, four metal plates 34, 35, 36, 3
A hollow box is formed by 7 (a), and the outer peripheral 4 surfaces are polished so that the four corners are at right angles, and then a large number of frame-shaped frames having a constant thickness are cut out (b). Then, the cut-out surfaces of these frame frames are collectively polished to produce a large number of guide frames 38 of the same shape with flatness, parallelism, and uniform dimensions.
At this time, the size of the guide frame 38 is made larger than the largest of the optical components constituting the optical system. In addition to metal, it is also possible to use hard materials such as ceramics and glass for the frame. The spacer frame is basically manufactured by the same method as the guide frame, but regarding the dimensions of the spacer frame, the surface size is the same as the guide frame at the outer peripheral portion and the inner peripheral portion is larger than the largest optical component, Since the length varies depending on the combination of optical components, the length is determined in consideration of the distance between components determined by the design of the optical system and the thickness of the guide frame 38.

7 (a), 7 (b) and 7 (c) are views showing an operation method for mounting an optical component on the guide frame. Generally, when the optical component 43 is mounted on the guide frame 42, first, the mechanical center axis of the guide frame 42 is aligned with the reference beam 39 of the He-Ne laser,
Next, the pseudo optical axis of the optical component 43 is aligned, and finally the rotational angle deviation (γ) of the reference beam 39 on the vertical plane is adjusted in this order. However, due to the shape and optical properties of the actual optical component 43, some of these adjustment operations can be omitted. Here, a specific adjusting method for the condenser lens and the polarizer will be described. Other optical components can be similarly configured.

To align the mechanical central axes of the reference beam 39 and the lens 43, a glass screen 40 is placed on the guide frame 42, and the mechanical central axis line geometrically determined from the outer peripheral reference of the guide frame 42 is marked. The guide frame 42 is moved and adjusted in the XY directions and fixed so that the mark 41 and the reference beam 39 coincide with each other (a). Then, the glass screen 40 is moved upward with the mechanical center axis mark 41 and the reference beam 39 aligned. The method of aligning the reference beam 39 and the pseudo optical axis of the lens 43 is as follows.
Make a small hole 45 in the adhesive colored transparent film 44,
The colored transparent film 44 is attached to the lens surface so that the hole 45 is located at the center of the shape of the lens 43. Then, the position of the lens 43 is adjusted on the guide frame 42, and if the reference beam 39 and the small hole 45 are aligned, the pseudo optical axis is found (b). Here, when the colored transparent film 44 is used, the beam position on the film 44 can be identified even if the reference beam 39 does not directly hit the hole 45, and the adjustment operation is easy. After that, how to align the reference beam 39 and the true optical axis of the lens 43 is simple. The colored transparent film 44 attached to the lens 43 is peeled off, and the position of the lens 43 is adjusted in the XY directions so that the reference beam 39 passing through the lens 43 matches the mechanical center axis mark 41 of the glass screen 40. Here, since it is known that the pseudo optical axis and the true optical axis are close to each other, the movement amount of the lens 43 is small and simple. At this stage, the mechanical center axis coincides with the true optical axis (c). Since the condenser lens is the object of rotation with respect to the optical axis, there is no angular deviation (γ),
This completes the adjustment operation, and after that, the guide frame 42 is fixed with an adhesive. On the other hand, a polarizer does not have a clear optical axis like a lens, but the polarizer has directionality in a plane perpendicular to the optical axis. Therefore, when mounting the polarizer on the guide frame 42, the center of the polarizer is roughly aligned with the mechanical center axis of the guide frame 42, and then the polarization direction is adhered and fixed so as to be parallel to the frame of the guide frame 42. To do.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a functional block for condensing a light source, which is composed of four optical component mounting guide frames and three spacers. In this block, the two condenser lenses 20 are aligned with the true optical axes of the pinholes, and the operation is performed so that the two faces of the frame come into contact with the block constituent frame 46 having a right angle. 47, spacer frame 48, condenser lens 4
9, spacer frame 50, interference filter frame 5
1, the spacer frame 52, and the condenser frame 53 are stacked in this order, and all the guide frames and the spacer frames are fixed to the block forming frame 46. In this operation,
As shown in (a), (b), and (c), two guide frames 55 and 57, on which the glass screens 54 and 56 are mounted, are arranged vertically apart from each other, and the guide frames 55 and 57 are arranged on the screens 54 and 56, respectively. The mechanical center axis marks 58 and 59 are aligned with the reference beam 60. Next, the block constituting frame 61 is brought into contact with the two guide frames 55 and 57 with a screen so that the block constituting frame 61 with respect to the reference beam 60.
When the guide frames are stacked one by one in the state in which the direction and the distance are corrected (the block configuration frame 61 is used as a positioning jig), it is confirmed that the true optical axes of the optical components are aligned. While building blocks.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an optical system including functional blocks. Here, the blocks are arranged so that the optical axes of the blocks coincide with each other, and thereafter, the light source condensing block 63, the DUT block 64, the detection block 65, and the observation block 66 are mechanically attached to and detached from the housing frame 62. The spacer frames 67, 68, 69 sandwiched between the two blocks are not fixed by a method, and the whole structure is integrated to complete the configuration of the optical system. The operation of arranging the blocks is the same as the operation of forming the blocks by the guide frame described above, and the optical axes of the blocks can be made coincident only by bringing the two surfaces of the blocks into contact with the housing frame 62 and arranging them.

As a result of actually assembling the optical system in this manner, the size is 1/10 or less and the adjustment work time is also half or less as compared with the conventional optical system constructed on the surface plate. It was solved by. As for the loss of the optical system itself caused by the positional deviation, etc., it was confirmed that the performance same as the conventional one was obtained as a result of measuring the input-output ratio.

[0021]

As described above, according to the method of constructing the optical system and the optical system structure according to the present invention, the effects listed below can be expected. Since various optical parts can be standardized in terms of shape and dimensions by the guide frame and the spacer frame, the operation for constructing the optical system is simple and requires only biaxial adjustment in the XY directions, which is also advantageous for automation. . The size of the whole optical system is determined by the size of the guide frame and the spacer frame, but they are in contact with each other and space is not wasted, so the optical system can be downsized, and since it is an integrated structure, it can be transported. Easy and portable. Since functional standardization can be performed by forming a single or a plurality of guide frames into one block, it is possible to flexibly deal with a design change of the optical system. As a result, the cost of the optical system can be reduced, and the optical communication system and the optical information processing system can be provided at low cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a procedure of an optical system construction method.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an optical component mounting guide frame.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of functional blocks.

FIG. 4 is an assembly diagram of an optical system having an integrated structure.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of an optical system for measuring lens aberration.

6 (a) and 6 (b) are schematic views showing a method of forming a spacer and a guide frame.

7 (a), (b) and (c) are schematic views showing a process of mounting an optical component on a guide frame.

FIG. 8 is an assembly diagram of a light collecting functional block.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing an optical axis adjusting method of block configurations (a), (b) and (c).

FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram of a lens aberration measuring optical system using functional blocks.

[Explanation of symbols]

 5 Guide Frame 6 Mechanical Center Axis of Guide Frame 7 Optical Component 10 Guide Frame 11 Spacer Frame 12 Block Configuration Frame 13 Functional Block 14 Functional Block 15 Housing Frame 20 Condenser Lens 21 Condenser Lens 25 Polarizer 27 Savart Plate 38 Guide Frame 43 Lens 44 Colored transparent film 46 Block frame

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A guide frame for mounting an optical component and a spacer frame for keeping the optical component at a predetermined distance are used to fix one optical component to one guide frame, and to provide a single guide frame on which the optical component is mounted. The two or more optical component-mounted guide frames are combined through at least one spacer frame to form a block, and the surfaces of the blocks on a plane perpendicular to the optical axis are brought into contact with each other to thereby provide the optical component. Is positioned at a predetermined position, and the block is fixed to a frame forming a housing to form an integrated structure as a whole. 2. An optical system structure produced according to the method of constructing an optical system according to claim 1, wherein the optical system structure comprises an optical component, a guide frame, a spacer frame,
An optical system structure comprising a frame and the like constituting a housing and having an integral structure as a whole.