Richard N. YOUNGWORTH^1,3,* and Bryan D. STONE^2,4

¹The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627-0186, USA, ²Corning Tropel Corporation, Fairport, New York 14450, USA

(Received February 27, 2001; Accepted June 19, 2001)

One goal for optical design is to assign tolerances so that the as-built systems satisfy all required specifications and have the lowest fabrication and assembly expense. Tolerances affect not only the image quality, but also the production cost. Thus tolerance assignment is a critical step in the optical design process. In this paper we discuss the essential elements of a cost-based tolerancing method. The paper concludes with an example comparing results from a cost-based tolerancing procedure with results from a conventional approach.

Key words : optical system design, geometrical optics, optical tolerancing

riyoung@optics.rochester.edu