6 Autocollimator Manufacturers in 2023
This section provides an overview for autocollimators as well as their applications and principles. Also, please take a look at the list of 6 autocollimator manufacturers and their company rankings. Here are the top-ranked autocollimator companies as of June, 2023: 1.Newport Corporation.
Table of Contents
What Is an Autocollimator?
An autocollimator is a machine that calculates the positional relationship of the surface of an object to be measured, mainly by irradiating a laser beam and examining the state of the reflected light.
Uses of Autocollimators
Autocollimators are mainly used in situations where precise positioning is required, such as in optical design or mechanical measurement work. Examples of situations where autocollimators can be applied in principle include straightness measurement of the stages of processing equipment such as robots and parallelism measurement of the end faces of measurement objects. Autocollimators are also used to inspect optical products, measuring warpage and waviness of disks and wafers, and measuring the accuracy of polygon mirrors.
Principle of Autocollimators
The measurement principle of the autocollimators are based on the straightness of laser light and the principle of lens focusing. First, a semiconductor laser is mainly used as the light source, and the laser is converted to a collimated light by a primary lens. This collimated light is passed through a secondary lens to form an image at the focal point. When an object is placed at the focus of this laser beam, if there is no misalignment, it will return to the original optical path. The reflected light is then spectrally split by a half-mirror in the middle of the optical path and reaches a light receiving element such as a CCD to form an image. If the object is placed without any tilt to the irradiated laser beam, the image formed by this reflected light is exactly the same as that of the incident light. On the other hand, if the object is tilted, the image will be shifted, and the angle of the shift can be determined from the degree of the shift. In addition, many mirrors that are not directly related to the measurement principle are incorporated inside the autocollimators. If all the optical systems of autocollimators are arranged in series, the size of the device is required for the optical path. Therefore, most autocollimators has multiple reflecting mirrors to reduce the size of the device.
Geometric Tolerances That Can Be Measured With Autocollimators
Strictly speaking, autocollimators measures the tilt of a mirror based on the displacement of the optical axis of the reflected light from a mirror placed at a distance from the light source. The angle of the mirror is replaced by the displacement and calculated to read the unevenness at each measurement point. By setting the starting position as zero and plotting the displacement for each measurement point, straightness can be obtained. Repeating the process of moving the autocollimators to obtain straightness on another line, the plotted points can be used to measure flatness because a plane can be drawn from a line. By devising how to place the autocollimators and how to hold the mirror, the measurement results can be developed to inclination and squareness as well.
Thus, the autocollimators can be used to determine geometric tolerances that can be defined by straight lines or flat surfaces, but it is more difficult to measure roundness, cylindricity, and other items that are defined by curves or curved surfaces.
Disadvantages of the Autocollimators
Autocollimators emits a point light source placed at the focal point of a lens as a collimated light and observes again the light reflected back through a similar lens and mirror on the opposite side. Since the light beam is collimated using a light source and a collimator lens, the light source must be at the focal point of the collimator lens. If the light source is not in the focal position, the image cannot be formed correctly, resulting in measurement errors and out-of-focus observation images. The light source position error must be accurate to within 0.1% of the collimator lens focal length. Because this position adjustment is so severe, autocollimators are available with a variety of methods for position adjustment, including those that use an aperture to allow position adjustment by spot diameter and those that use a knife edge.
It also requires operator skill to be able to perform position adjustment quickly and with little error, and in the case of autocollimators with a short focal length, a small amount of adjustment can result in a large error. Attempting to make adjustments easier by increasing the focal length also has the disadvantage of making the equipment larger.
List of 6 Autocollimator Manufacturers
*Including some distributors, etc.
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Newport Corporation
CONEX-LDS Electronic Autocollimator
Company Overview
Newport is a division of MKS Instruments, Inc. that was incorporated in 1961 and headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts. The company is a manufacturing company that serves the specialty industrial, advanced electronics, and semiconductor industries. The company markets its products through Spectra-Physics, MKS Instruments, Richardson Grating, and other brands. Their product categories include motion, optomechanics, optics, and vacuum instruments. Product categories include lasers, MKS vacuum & gas solutions, laser diode controls, and tables & isolation systems.
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Company Overview
Jiangyin Wellye Paper Industry Co., Ltd. is a Chinese manufacturer located in Jiangyin City, Jiangsu, China. With over a decade of experience, the company specializes in producing Direct-to-Garment (DTG) and Direct-to-Film (DTF) products. The company's product line comprises sublimation paper, thermal transfer paper, DTF sheets, and various consumables used in industries such as fashion and home furnishing. These products have been exported to the United States, Europe, South America, and South Asia.
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Autocollimator Manufacturer Ranking
*Including some distributors, etc.Ranking as of June 2023 in United States of America
Derivation Method| Rank | Company | Click Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Newport Corporation | 100% |
Ranking as of June 2023 Globally
Derivation Method| Rank | Company | Click Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wellye | 23.5% |
| 2 | Qingdao Kingchuan Packaging | 17.6% |
| 3 | Pulixin | 17.6% |
| 4 | Opto-Mechatronics Ltd. | 17.6% |
| 5 | Newport Corporation | 17.6% |
| 6 | Taylor Hobson | 5.9% |
Derivation Method
The ranking is calculated based on the click share within the autocollimator page as of June 2023. Click share is defined as the total number of clicks for all companies during the period divided by the number of clicks for each company.Number of Employees
- Opto-Mechatronics Ltd.: 275
Newly Established Company
- Pulixin: 2009 (14 years ago)
- Opto-Mechatronics Ltd.: 1993 (30 years ago)
Company with a History
- Opto-Mechatronics Ltd.: 1993 (30 years ago)
- Pulixin: 2009 (14 years ago)
