Optical Posts and Bases

An important element of the optomechanics line up are the mounting posts and bases.  While these are simple parts, they provide an important function for an optical mounts - connection to the work surface.  There are two main types of mounting posts: fixed-height and height-adjustable.  The fixed-height posts provide the most stability simply because there are no moving parts.  The most widely used fixed post type are called pedestals due to their wide base.  Pedestal posts require a clamp fork to mount to an optical table.  Standard post and post holders provide manual height adjustment and are comprised of a post holder and a post which fits inside of the post holder.  This arrangement allows for height adjustment as well as rotation adjustment (yaw).  Post holders have threaded bottoms to allow mounting directly to the threaded holes on an optical table.  While this mounting is convenient, it restricts the location of a post holder to one of the threaded holes on the optical table; note that pedestal posts do not have this limitation due to the fork clamp mounting.  For a post holder, this limitation can be overcome with the addition of a mounting base which enables fork-like mounting.   Optomechanics are used in one way or another in every optical application or experiment.  Although OptoSigma has thousands of these components,  if one of our many catalog items does not meet your requirements, send us a request for a custom version.