Optical Assembly
In the world of photonics, many different optical components are used to guide light such as lenses, mirrors, fibers or fiber arrays. To build an optical system, these components need to be either placed and aligned to a certain position, or bonded to another element. For these tasks, compact and delicate grippers and positioning systems of highest accuracy are needed.
We address these challenges with our customizable SMARBOTIC serial kinematics, following strict modularity to configure positioning systems with multiple degrees of freedom in many different pos-sible configurations. Micro grippers with exchangeable and adaptable gripper jaws allow gripping of even the smallest optical components with dimensions of less than 1mm.
The example shows a pick and place system for small fibers, consisting of SMARSLIDE piezo inertia drive axes configured as a XYZ-system combined with a gripper. Similar SMARBOTIC parallel and serial kinematics can be used to align fibers and lenses and even for bonding applications.