Featured guide
How to Specify a Custom Patterned Glass Component
Turn the optical task into a DWG drawing with usable datums, pattern requirements and acceptance criteria.
Open the guideTechnical Guides
Choose substrates and coatings, prepare DWG drawings and define measurable pattern and inspection requirements.
Choose the requirement you need to resolve
Preparing DWG Drawings for Patterned Glass
Prepare CAD geometry that preserves scale, polarity, datums and layer meaning through drawing review and manufacture.
Open the guidePattern Accuracy, Datums and Orientation
Separate line width, pitch, pattern position and system accuracy, then express each requirement against a measurable datum.
Open the guideInspection and Acceptance of Patterned Glass
Define inspection areas, defect significance, measurement conditions and report content before comparing pass/fail results.
Open the guideBonded Reticles: Protecting the Patterned Focal Plane
How a bonded cover glass protects a reticle pattern, what it changes in the optical path, and what to specify in the drawing.
Glass Encoder Disc Selection: A Practical Checklist
Define the code pattern, reading geometry and acceptance requirements before ordering a patterned glass encoder disc.
Choosing Glass Substrates and Optical Coatings
Evaluate wavelength, thermal drift, mounting and film behaviour together instead of choosing glass by name alone.
Preparing DWG Drawings for Patterned Glass
Prepare CAD geometry that preserves scale, polarity, datums and layer meaning through drawing review and manufacture.
How to Choose an Optical Test Target
Compare USAF 1951, slanted-edge MTF, Siemens stars, dot arrays, checkerboards and stage micrometers by the quantity you need to measure.
Pattern Accuracy, Datums and Orientation
Separate line width, pitch, pattern position and system accuracy, then express each requirement against a measurable datum.
Inspection and Acceptance of Patterned Glass
Define inspection areas, defect significance, measurement conditions and report content before comparing pass/fail results.
Patterned Glass and Photolithography Glossary
Plain-language definitions for photomasks, encoder discs, reticles, calibration targets and the measurements used to specify them.
Eyepiece Reticles: Selection, Fit and Calibration
Choose the pattern and mounting fit, then convert eyepiece divisions into specimen measurements with a stage micrometer.
Dot Array or Checkerboard: Choosing a Camera Calibration Target
Compare feature geometry, software conventions, target size and validation before choosing a planar camera calibration pattern.
Pattern Polarity, Film Side and Viewing Direction
Define clear and opaque regions, illumination mode and the required reading side without confusing a film opening with a hole through glass.
Siemens Star Testing: Focus, Frequency and Image Interpretation
Convert radius to spatial frequency, distinguish genuine detail from artefacts and choose the analysis method for binary or sinusoidal stars.
NBS 1952 Testing: Frequency, Magnification and False Resolution
Read three-bar groups correctly, convert target frequency to image frequency and distinguish a visual limit from contrast-transfer measurements.
NBS 1963A Infinity-Conjugate Testing
Use five-bar targets with a collimator, convert physical chart frequency into angular resolution and avoid conjugate, sampling and false-resolution errors.
Checkerboard Camera Calibration: Corners, Capture and Validation
Set corner counts and units correctly, capture useful poses and validate camera calibration beyond a single reprojection-error value.
Dot-Array Camera Calibration: Geometry, Detection and Validation
Define circle-grid coordinates, match OpenCV or HALCON settings and assess sampling, perspective centre bias and measurement accuracy.
Concentric-Square Targets: Scale, Centre and Distortion Checks
Set a reproducible µm-per-pixel scale, inspect centring and separate perspective from lens distortion with nested square references.
Optical Reticle Selection, Installation and Parallax
Choose the pattern by function, place it at the correct focal plane and verify scale, orientation, illumination and parallax in the complete instrument.
Reticle Focal Planes, Parallax and Optical Alignment
Understand where a reticle sits, how the observer sees it with the target and how focal-plane and alignment errors enter the instrument.
Reticles in Microscopes, Sights and Measuring Instruments
Match reticle geometry to the instrument task, then calibrate the complete optical configuration before reading length, angle, position or concentration.
Reticle Pattern Manufacture and Acceptance
Connect substrate, pattern transfer, focal-plane geometry and inspection so a reticle is checked as an optical component rather than only as a printed image.
Reticle Mounting and Cemented Optical Assemblies
Distinguish mechanical seating, edge bonding and full-face optical cementing, then control the pattern plane and verify the assembly after joining.
Glass Encoder Disc Selection: Codes, Readout and Eccentricity
Separate encoding type, optical readout, resolution and accuracy, then control concentricity, pitch and mounting error in the complete encoder system.
Reading USAF 1951 Targets: Groups, Frequency and Resolution
Read the correct three-bar element, convert its geometry and distinguish target-plane detail from image-plane sampling.
Slanted-Edge SFR: Setup, Calculation and Interpretation
Follow the edge-to-frequency calculation and identify how sampling, contrast and image processing affect the reported response.
Stage Micrometers: Scale Calibration and Measurement Records
Establish length per pixel or eyepiece division, choose a useful span and understand measured intervals and uncertainty.
Ronchi and Sayce Targets: Frequency, Sampling and Contrast
Relate stripe geometry to spatial frequency and use fixed-period or progressive patterns for controlled comparisons.
Encoder Periods, Counts, Resolution and Speed
Convert optical periods into count increments, estimate track pitch at the reading radius and check signal bandwidth at the required speed.
Absolute Optical Codes: Gray, Binary and Transition Reading
Match the position map to the reader, distinguish multi-track and coded-window designs, and evaluate code transitions and coarse/fine registration.
Optical Encoder Readheads: Signals and Interpolation
Understand the disc/readhead pair, clear fraction and phase signals, then distinguish interpolation increments from signal-dependent position error.
Encoder Pattern Manufacturing and Acceptance
Connect artwork, coating, pattern transfer and cutting to measurable track geometry, optical contrast and installed-system verification.
Using this guide
Use these technical guides to choose a component, select a material, prepare artwork, check installation and define acceptance.