Optical Bench
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optical bench
[′äp·tə·kəl ′bench] (engineering)
A rigid horizontal bar or track for holding optical devices in experiments; it allows device positions to be changed and adjusted easily.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Optical Bench
a laboratory device for testing optical instruments and parts thereof. In an optical bench, sliding supports, or carriages, slide along a heavy track. They carry various stands and tables on which the instruments or parts being tested are mounted. The carriages can be displaced along the bench’s track and securely fastened at any point. The mechanical displacements are exactly parallel to the optical and sighting axes of the instruments mounted on the optical bench. An optical bench can have a length of up to several meters.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.