For our own needs of laser optics experiments (right now, mainly interferometry), we are developing a system of 3d-printable optomechanical components.

• Techtree Element #86 (Optomechanical System)
• 2026 EH23 talk: Budget Beams – Laser Experiments in a Hacker Lab

More documentation to follow as the project progresses. In the mean time, find some lab notes of ongoing progress with optics at FAFO here: Lab Notes for Optics Experiments

Assembly drawing for a kinematic mirror mount (older version):

Some information about the design:

• Designed to stay compatible with commonly used (metric) optomechanical components. We chose to use the same M6 25×25mm breadboards that are present in most optics labs.

• Using M3x0.5 adjusters for pitch and yaw correction as M3 screws are very cheap and readily available. Commercial mounts use M6x0.25 adjusters so we have about half the finesse.

• The 3d-printed mounts are of course notably less stable. We are going to characterize the mechanical performance to give a lower bound on what experiments can be done with them.

• We tried using integrated flexures to avoid needing metal springs. Unfortunately, this does not work due to excessive creepage effects.