Hal Amick, Matthew Stead

Bench-mounted optical microscopes have a wide variety of applications in science and technology. The vibration sensitivity is a function of both magnification and support conditions. The paper presents the results of experimental studies addressing vibration sensitivity as well as the amplification and attenuation provided by typical laboratory casework. The benchtop vibration amplitudes at which the effects of motion first become perceptible were found for magnifications of 40x, 100x, 400x and 1000x using sinusoidal excitation. Frequency response functions were determined for benchtop motion with respect to floor motion, using both conventional casework and a popular pneumatic isolation bench. Floor vibration criteria were developed for microscopes with the two types of support.

Invited Paper

Presented at the First Pan-American/Iberian Meeting on Acoustics; 144th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, 2-6 December 2002, Cancun, Mexico


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