Lightweight Kinematic Optical Mount for Vibration and Shock Environments

The objective of this program is to develop a lightweight kinematic optical mount with integrated passive vibration-and-shock mitigation technologies and robust "Set and Forget" alignment adjustment design features. The intended use of this advanced optical mount is within existing DoD optical systems but can also be tailored to enhance alignment stability of new Commercial and DoD systems operating in harsh disturbance environments. The innovativeness of the mount design being developed within this effort, is defined by (1) integrated of vibration and shock suppression, (2) precise alignment in five degrees-of-freedom, (3) high alignment stability, and (4) benign thermal-elastic distortion or high dimensional stability in the presence of thermal loading. The Phase II effort is focused on developing, fabricating, and testing the static and dynamic optical alignment performance of an identified "Drop-in Replacement" MDA application as part of system peformance risk mitigation.