JP2860741B2 - Optical system configuration method and optical system structure - Google Patents

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 required for optical information processing such as optical communication and an optical computer, and an optical system structure.

[0002]

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

[0003]

However, in the construction work of such a conventional optical system, it is necessary to individually adjust the optical components on the optical platen by six axes while applying a light beam in a dark environment. However, there is a problem that the operation is complicated and that it takes a long time to realize the optical system. In addition, the optical components are held in a holder with a mechanism for adjusting the position and angle, and the holders are only arranged on the optical surface plate and are not integrated, so the overall size of the optical system is small. There is also a drawback in that it is difficult to carry out the transport, and it cannot be transported and moved, and the place of use is limited. In addition, changes in components require the entire optical system to be re-adjusted, and the lack of flexibility in changing the design of the optical system is a problem. Therefore, it is necessary to individually deal with each optical system, and as a result, it is inevitable that the optical system itself becomes very expensive. As described above, the conventional optical configuration method using the holder and the optical surface plate has many problems, and cannot be used as a practical optical system.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and has as its object to improve the workability of adjusting the position and posture of an optical component.
Optical system configuration method and optical system structure for miniaturization and portability of the entire optical system, improvement in flexibility for design change of the optical system, and cost reduction of the optical system itself by improving versatility Is to provide the body.

[0005] The basic concept of the present invention for solving these problems is as follows. (1) To improve the efficiency of the position and orientation adjustment of the optical component, the six-axis adjustment of the optical component is not performed in a single operation, but divided into two or more times and the adjustment of the adjustment axis per one time is performed. Adjustment work is simplified by reducing the number and devising the shape of the holder. Furthermore, instead of a limited place called an optical surface plate,
Perform in an easy-to-work environment. (2) For miniaturization and portability of the entire optical system, the holder for holding the optical components and the adjustment mechanism are separated, and after adjustment, the holder is left alone to reduce the size. It secures portability by fixing it with an integral structure. (3) For flexibility in changing the design of the optical system, a group of parts necessary to realize a certain function is divided into blocks,
By adding or removing this block as a unit to or from the optical system, the number of movement adjustments can be reduced, and an optical connection can be obtained simply by contacting the block end faces and simple adjustment. (4) To increase the cost of the optical system itself due to non-versatility, standardized components such as guide frames are used to standardize various optical components to be assembled and facilitate handling in the production stage. By doing so, the production cost is reduced. As a method of realizing the above concept, the present invention uses a guide frame that can fix and hold any optical component with high accuracy without being affected by the shape and dimensions of the optical component, and forms a block composed of one or more guide frames. The present invention has invented a method of constructing an optical system and an optical system structure in which the blocks are mechanically fixed by a housing frame to form an integral structure.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a method for constructing an optical system according to the present invention uses a guide frame for mounting an optical component and a spacer frame for keeping the optical component at a predetermined interval. One optical component is fixed to one guide frame, and a block is formed by combining these optical component-mounted guide frames alone and two or more optical component-mounted guide frames via at least one spacer frame. The optical component is positioned at a predetermined position by mutually contacting surfaces on a plane perpendicular to the optical axis of the block, and further the block is fixed to a frame constituting a housing to form an integral structure. It is. Also,
The optical system structure according to the present invention is composed of an optical component, a guide frame, a spacer frame, a frame constituting a housing, and the like, which are produced according to the method of configuring the optical system, and has an integral structure. It is.

[0007]

According to the method of constructing an optical system according to the present invention, a block for holding one optical component is formed by using an optical component mounting guide frame and at least one spacer frame.
The guide frame and the spacer frame position the optical component at a predetermined position by contacting surfaces of the block on a plane perpendicular to the optical axis with each other. The frame forming the block and the housing is integrally connected and fixed to form an optical system. The 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 forms a housing, and the like, and the whole forms an integral structure.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a procedure of a method for configuring an optical system according to the present invention. In the figure, a method of constructing an optical system according to the present invention includes a process 1 for forming components such as a guide frame, a spacer frame, a block structure frame, and a housing frame. The optical components are mounted on the guide frame, and are positioned and bonded and fixed. Step 2, a step 3 in which optical component mounting guide frames and spacer frames are alternately arranged to form a block having a predetermined function, and such that these functional blocks are in contact with each other on a plane perpendicular to the optical axis. Arranging and arranging the optical components at predetermined positions by using a housing frame, and finally mechanically fixing the optical components with the housing frame, to form an optical system having an integral structure as a whole.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view when the optical component mounting guide frame 10 is formed by the above-described step 2. The purpose here is to make the center 6 of the guide frame 5 coincide with the optical axis 9 of the optical component 7. This can greatly simplify the subsequent adjustment work. Specifically, the mechanical center axis 6 (the pseudo optical axis 8 of the optical component 7 with respect to the center axis of the shape, which is determined based on the outer shape of the guide frame 5 (the central axis of the shape of the optical component, and the true optical axis 9 is in the vicinity thereof) Is assumed to exist)
, The mechanical central axis 6 and the true optical axis 9 become parallel (two-axis tilt angle adjustment), and the true optical axis 9 and the mechanical central axis 6 coincide with each other on the beam basis (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 five-axis adjustment other than the Z-axis defining the distance between the optical components has been completed.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the functional blocks created in the above step 3. First, two types of frames are alternately stacked in a necessary number such that the outer shapes of the optical component mounting guide frame 10 and the spacer frame 11 are in contact with the block configuration frame 12. Here, the Z-axis adjustment is completed by combining the guide frame 10 and the spacer frame 11, and all the six-axis adjustments necessary for determining the position and orientation of the object existing in the three-dimensional space are completed. Guide frame 1 at the same time
The true optical axes 9 of the plurality of optical components 7 mounted on 0 coincide with each other, and a functional block that does not require the adjustment of the angle and the parallel movement in the subsequent optical system configuration operation has been formed.

The feature of the guide frame 10 used here is that its outer dimensions, parallelism and flatness are highly accurate.
The shape of the internal hollow hole 10a can be changed depending on the shape and size of the optical component 7 to be held, and does not require dimensional accuracy. On the other hand, in the spacer frame 11, the dimensional accuracy of the parallelism, flatness, and length of the two front and rear surfaces that define the distance between the optical components in contact with the guide frame 10 is 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 view showing an optical system in which the functional blocks created in the above step 4 are arranged on a housing frame to form an integral structure. Since the optical axes of the blocks 13 and 14 are determined on the basis of the outer periphery of the blocks, the true optical axes coincide only by arranging them on the housing frame 15. Subsequently, the blocks 13 and 14 are mechanically fixed to the housing frame 15 to form an integral structure. This housing frame 1
Regarding 5, it is sufficient to have a structure capable of holding the entire optical system in an integrated structure and a mechanical strength sufficient to prevent the optical axis from being deformed by an external force. If it is necessary to change a part of the optical system configuration due to a design change of the optical system, remove the corresponding block, replace it with another block, or add a new block according to the change. However, in any case, the connection operation may be performed to configure the optical system shown in FIG. At this time, there is a problem in adjusting the interval between the changed block and the blocks before and after the changed block. For this, a spacer frame having a predetermined interval is used.

As described above, the points of the present invention are standardization at the component level by mounting optical components having different shapes and sizes on a guide frame having the same specifications, and a block in which a plurality of components are integrated into one. As a result, standardization at the functional level was realized, and as a result, a practical new optical system configuration became possible. Hereinafter, the effects of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples.

FIG. 5 is a view showing an optical system for measuring aberration of a lens using a Savart plate. 20 and 21 are condenser lenses, 22 is an interference filter, 23 is a pinhole, 24 is a test lens, 25 and 26 are 90 ° shifted polarizers, 27 is a Savart plate, 28 is an imaging lens, and an illumination lamp 29 is provided. Except for nine optical components, they are functionally grouped into four functional blocks: a light source condensing part 30, a measurement target 31, a detection part 32, and an observation part 33.

FIGS. 6A and 6B show a method of manufacturing a guide frame and a spacer frame on which these optical components are mounted.
(B). First, four metal plates 34, 35, 36, 3
7, a hollow box is formed (a), and four outer peripheral surfaces are polished so that the angles of the four corners are perpendicular, and then a number of frame-shaped frames having a constant thickness are cut out (b). Subsequently, the cut-out surfaces of the frame frames are polished at a time to produce a large number of guide frames 38 of the same shape having the same flatness, parallelism and dimensions.
At this time, the size of the guide frame 38 is made larger than the largest one of the optical components constituting the optical system. A hard material such as ceramics or glass can be used for the frame in addition to metal. The spacer frame is also made basically in the same way as the guide frame, but the dimensions of the spacer frame are such that the outer periphery is the same as the guide frame and the inner periphery is larger than the largest optical component, Since the length varies depending on the combination of the optical components, the length is determined in consideration of the distance between the components determined by the design of the optical system and the thickness of the guide frame 38.

FIGS. 7A, 7B, and 7C are views showing an operation method for mounting an optical component on a guide frame. In general, when the optical component 43 is mounted on the guide frame 42, the mechanical center axis of the guide frame 42 is first matched 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 rotation angle shift (γ) of the reference beam 39 on the vertical plane is adjusted. However, due to the shape and optical properties of the actual optical component 43, some adjustment operations can be omitted. Here, a specific adjustment method for the condenser lens and the polarizer will be described. Other optical components can be similarly configured.

The alignment of the reference beam 39 and the mechanical center axis of the lens 43 is performed by placing a glass screen 40 on the guide frame 42 and marking the mechanical center axis geometrically determined from the outer reference of the guide frame 42. Then, the guide frame 42 is moved and adjusted in the X and Y directions so that the mark 41 and the reference beam 39 coincide with each other and fixed (a). Thereafter, 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 with the pseudo optical axis of the lens 43 is as follows.
Drill a small hole 45 in the adhesive colored transparent film 44,
The colored transparent film 44 is stuck on the lens surface such 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 match, a pseudo optical axis has been found (b). Here, if 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. The subsequent alignment of 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 coincides with 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 exist close to each other, the amount of movement of the lens 43 is small and simple. At this stage, the mechanical central axis coincides with the true optical axis (c). Since the condenser lens is to be rotated with respect to the optical axis, there is no angular shift (γ),
Thus, the adjustment operation is completed, and the fixing operation is fixed on the guide frame 42 with an adhesive. On the other hand, a polarizer does not have a clear optical axis unlike a lens, but has a 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. I do.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a light source condensing functional block composed of four optical component mounting guide frames and three spacers. In this block, the purpose is to match the true optical axes of the two condenser lenses 20 and the pinhole, and the operation is performed so that the two surfaces of the pinhole frame are in contact with the block forming 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 capacitor frame 53 are stacked in this order, and all the guide frames and the spacer frame are fixed to the block forming frame 46. In this operation, FIG.
As shown in (a), (b) and (c), two guide frames 55 and 57 on which glass screens 54 and 56 are respectively mounted are vertically spaced apart from each other. The mechanical center axis marks 58 and 59 are aligned with the reference beam 60. Next, the block forming frame 61 is brought into contact with the two guide frames 55 and 57 with a screen, and the block forming frame 61 with respect to the reference beam 60 is moved.
When the guide frames are stacked one by one in a state where the direction and distance of the optical components are corrected (the block configuration frame 61 is used as a positioning jig), it is confirmed that the true optical axes of the respective optical components match. The blocks can be configured while doing so.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an optical system composed of functional blocks. Here, the optical axes of the respective blocks are arranged so as to coincide with each other, and after that, each of the light source focusing block 63, the DUT block 64, the detection block 65, and the observation block 66 is detachably mounted on the housing frame 62. (The spacer frames 67, 68, and 69 sandwiched between the two blocks are not fixed), and the entire structure is formed as an integral structure, thereby completing the configuration of the optical system. The operation of arranging the blocks is the same as the above-described operation of forming the blocks by the guide frame, and the optical axes of the blocks can be made coincident only by arranging the two surfaces of the blocks in contact with the housing frame 62.

As a result of actually assembling the optical system in this way, as compared with a conventional optical system constructed on a surface plate, the size is 1/10 or less and the adjustment work time is half or less. Was resolved. In addition, as for the loss of the optical system itself due to the displacement and the like, as a result of measuring the input-output ratio, it was confirmed that the same performance as the conventional one was obtained.

[0021]

As described above, according to the method of configuring an optical system and the optical system structure according to the present invention, the following effects can be expected. Since various optical components can be standardized in shape and dimensions by the guide frame and the spacer frame, the operation for configuring the optical system is as simple as adjusting two axes in the X and Y directions, which is advantageous for automation. is there. The overall dimensions of the optical system are determined by the size of the guide frame and spacer frame, but they are in contact with each other and there is no waste in space, so the optical system can be miniaturized. Easy and portable. Functionalization can be standardized by blocking one or a plurality of guide frames into one, so that it is possible to flexibly cope with a design change of the optical system. As a result, the cost of the optical system can be reduced, and an optical communication system, an optical information processing system, and the like can be provided at low cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

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

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a functional block.

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

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

FIGS. 6A and 6B are schematic diagrams illustrating a method of forming a spacer and a guide frame.

FIGS. 7A, 7B, and 7C are schematic diagrams illustrating a process of mounting an optical component on a guide frame.

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

FIGS. 9A, 9B, and 9C are schematic diagrams illustrating an optical axis adjustment method having a block configuration.

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

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 5 Guide frame 6 Mechanical center axis of guide frame 7 Optical component 10 Guide frame 11 Spacer frame 12 Block constituent frame 13 Function block 14 Function 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

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Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] An optical component is fixed to one guide frame by using a guide frame for mounting the optical component and a spacer frame for keeping the optical component at a predetermined interval. A block is formed by combining two or more optical component-mounted guide frames via at least one spacer frame, and surfaces of the block on a plane perpendicular to the optical axis are brought into contact with each other to thereby form the optical component. The optical element is positioned at a predetermined position, and the block is fixed to a frame forming a housing to form an integral structure. 2. An optical system structure produced according to the optical system configuration method according to claim 1, wherein the optical system structure includes an optical component, a guide frame, a spacer frame,
An optical system structure comprising a frame or the like that forms a housing, and the entire structure forms an integral structure.