Optical platform

The optical platform is an experimental platform that provides a horizontal, stable table top for placement of various optical components. The general platform needs to carry out vibration isolation and other measures to ensure that it is not interfered by external factors, so that scientific experiments can be conducted normally.

The basic components of a standard optical table include: (1) a top plate, (2) a bottom plate, (3) a side finishing surface, (4) a side plate, (5) a honeycomb core, (6) a sealing cup, and the like.

Zhuoli Optical's optical platform is divided into damping vibration isolation and air floating vibration isolation two.

Damping

The most important characteristic of an optical table or breadboard is its resonant frequency. The resonance frequency and amplitude are negatively correlated, so the resonance frequency should be increased as much as possible to minimize the vibration intensity. Platforms and breadboards vibrate within a specific frequency range. To improve performance, the damping effects of each size of platform and breadboard need to be optimized.

Platform damping requires various tests to optimize its thickness/area ratio. The larger area of the platform (at least 10 feet or 3 meters in length) has a standard thickness of 12.2 inches (310 mm), which improves stability. For smaller area platforms, the thickness can be 8.3 inches (210 mm) or 12.2 inches (310 mm), but larger sizes can also be customized. The figure below shows the typical difference in damping characteristics for the 210 mm and 310 mm thick platforms.

Air floating isolation

By giving the isostatic platform four air springs with a certain amount of compressed air or nitrogen, a single air spring is divided into an upper chamber and a lower chamber, and the airflow flows up and down through the orifice to achieve the consumption or cancellation of the heat energy generated by the vibration through the gas flow.

The optical platform pursues the level, and the entire table is extremely flat during the first processing. Afterwards, the mesa is placed on four airbags to ensure the level of the countertop. Countertops are filled with square holes of engineered tapped holes. These holes and corresponding screws allow the optical components to be fixed. In this way, when you complete the construction of the optical device, the system will basically not be affected by external disturbances. Even if the table is pressed, it will automatically return horizontally due to the airbag.