Features & Benefits:
All optical tables are flat to within ±0.1 mm. The all-steel construction minimizes thermal drift that is commonly experienced from mismatched coefficients of thermal expansion. The optical tables’ interior consists of an uninterrupted honeycomb core that provides the stiffness needed to resist surface bowing from applied loads.
Thorlabs offers many optical table sizes with thicknesses of 210 mm, 310 mm, or 460 mm; thicker optical tables will be stiffer. They’re offered with sealed mounting holes for managing spills, non-magnetic steel, or through ports for managing cables. Optical table accessories are also available, including shelves, support legs, and earthquake restraints. Optical tables can also be custom ordered or bundled with our optical table legs.
Superior Flatness, Compliance, and Construction Quality.
Machined Matte Finish with Holes to Edge of Table.
Each Table Individually Tested.
Optimized Damping
Broadband Damping:
The most important feature of an optical table or breadboard is its resonant frequency. Since resonant frequency and vibration amplitude are inversely related, the resonant frequency should be as high as possible to minimize vibration intensity. Nexus tables and breadboards are broadband damped over a specific range of frequencies. For improved performance, the damping is optimized for each size of table and breadboard offered.
Compliance:
The most widely used transfer function for the vibrational response of an optical table is compliance. In the case of a constant (static) force, compliance is defined as the ratio of the linear or angular displacement to the magnitude of the applied force. In the case of a dynamically varying force (vibration), compliance is defined as the ratio of the excited vibrational amplitude (angular or linear displacement) to the amplitude of the force causing the vibration. Any deflection of the tabletop is evident by the change in relative position of the components mounted on the table surface. Therefore, by definition, the lower the compliance value is, the closer the optical table is to meeting the primary goal of optical table design: minimized deflection. Compliance is frequency dependent and is measured in units of displacement per unit force (meters per Newton).