Optomechanical design for cost-effective DEMVAL systems

Sticker shock for optomechanical hardware designed for advanced optical DEMVAL systems can lead to program loss. In optomechanical design it is important to manage this risk through easily manufacturable and inexpensive hardware to meet demands of lower budget programs. The optical and optomechanical design teams must work closely to optimize system design for ease of manufacture, and assembly, while at the same time minimizing the impacts to system performance. Effective teaming often results in unique/creative design solutions which enable future system development. Outlined are some novel optomechanical structure concepts, with 5 degrees of freedom (DOF), used to design a low cost DEMVAL optical system. The concepts discussed include inexpensive repeatable magnetic kinematic mounts, flexure rings for lens preloading, simplistic drop-in lens housing designs, and adjustable tooling ball metering rods which accommodate alignment in 5 DOF.