Explanation
In optical systems, especially those involving interferometry, the alignment of each component must be extremely accurate—precise down to a fraction of a wavelength—usually a few hundred nanometers. Even small vibrations or strain in the table on which the elements are set up might lead to complete failure of an experiment. Hence, one requires an extremely rigid table which neither moves nor flexes, even under changing loads or vibrations. The surface of the table must also be quite flat, to allow precision optical mounts to make good contact with the table without rocking and facilitate easy assembly of the optical system.
Earlier optical table tops were sometimes made of a large slab of highly polished granite or diabase. These materials are very dense and stiff, which inhibits flexing and motion of the surface, improving the stability of the optical system. The surfaces can be ground extremely flat, which is beneficial for alignment of optical systems. Such tables were very heavy and expensive, however, and did not do a good job of damping vibrations. Mounting components to a granite surface is also difficult. Granite and diabase are still used for smaller precision-flat surfaces, but optical tables made from these materials are not commonly available today.
Modern optical tables are typically made of top and bottom sheets of steel, aluminum, or carbon fiber, separated by a thick honeycomb lattice structure. The surface usually has a grid of threaded holes which allow the components to be bolted down to fit the optical system layout. Components may also be held to the steel surface by magnetic bases. Often, the table's legs are pneumatic vibration dampers. For even more accurate setups, one also prevents air movements and temperature gradients by enclosing the surface in a box of transparent plastic such as Plexiglas. One may also use a "flowbox", a device which produces a laminar stream of air flowing downwards, kept at constant temperature by special air conditioning.
The metal used to construct modern optical tables has a higher speed of sound than granite and therefore a higher frequency of the first eigenmode. Any vibration produced on the table below this frequency does not produce a resonant response, making the setup less sensitive to vibrations from motorized optics, cooling water pumps, etc. Vibration damping may be added to tables during their construction. As with granite's composite structure, the combination of several stiff materials with different speeds of sound produces a table for which a wide range of vibrations are critically damped. Viscous fluids are used in between the stiff materials, to aid in damping.
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