Optical Breadboard Features

• Design for Excellent Thermal Stability
• Low Deflection Under Load
• Plated Steel Honeycomb Core Provides Both Static and Dynamic Rigidity
• Magnetic Stainless Steel Top and Bottom Plate
• Excellent Surface Flatness--Using a Single Material and a Unique Thermal Bonding Process

Thorlabs Performance™ Optical Breadboards are 60 mm (2.4") thick and offer the same construction techniques as our standard Performance Series I range but with no holes drilled into the top plate. They provide high stiffness and standard damping making them an ideal solution for microscopy applications.

Thorlabs Performance optical breadboards provide a stable environment for general research and product development.

Minimum Relative Breadboard Motion

The Performance range incorporates a double plate, single-honeycomb design, providing excellent stiffness and dynamic rigidity. The top layer consists of a stainless steel top plate. The second layer adds the main steel honeycomb structure and the stainless steel bottom plate. The main honeycomb core is fabricated from strips of precision-formed plated steel, which is bonded together with a high tensile strength epoxy adhesive.

Excellent Surface Flatness

Breadboard flatness is critically important during many experimental setups. Lack of local flatness requires readjustment of components for height variations across the breadboard and can cause component “wobble”. Thorlabs breadboards offer unsurpassed flatness due to the high-precision magnetic stainless steel plates which are specially handled to maintain superior flatness throughout the manufacturing process. A unique thermal bonding process ensures that stress is not induced during manufacture, thereby retaining the flatness of the top plate.

Athermalized Design

Thorlabs breadboards employ matching magnetic stainless steel for both the top and bottom plates. This unique athermalized design eliminates any thermal bowing effects caused by temperature variations.