AR Measurement Tool

• To reduce the time it takes to complete optical measurements, I designed a tool that gives users more precise control during calibration

In AR research and development, often times we are required to design new measurement techniques in order to keep up with our advancements in AR optics. In almost every case, these measurement setups are built using off-the-shelf components, which are not necessarily built for these cases.

In this instance, the measurement tool used a half-wave plate inside a Thorlabs manual rotation mount to shift the power to a specific value for calibration. However, the tuning of the power was very tight, and required precise rotation of this mount; a task that was incredibly difficult to do by hand with the shallow teeth on this model. To alleviate this problem, I designed a small needle to sit on the front of the optic and lock into the teeth and inner wall of the rotating elements. This greater lever arm provided much finer control over the rotation, reducing the time required to calibrate the tool and subsequently speeding up the measurement process.