2) Note that the pigtail stage is prealigned at the
factory and may be misaligned on shipment. First
check that the output beam is normal to the front
of the Alignment Stage. If it is not, use the coarse
θxand θyadjustment screws on the front of the
Alignment Stage to roughly align the beam so that
it is normal to the front of the Alignment Stage.
This will aid in maximizing the throughput dur-
ing the initial alignment steps.
3) Note that the internal workings of the
Alignment Stage are spring loaded. When inserting
the input housing, do not exert excess force on the
springs. This will cause them to stretch and may
misalign the collimating lens. Carefully remove
the fiber from the box. Referring to the figure
below, gently insert the Input Housing of the
Optical Fiber into the Alignment Stage, noting that
the polarization groove should be oriented slightly
off the vertical axis. While gently pushing the
Input Housing into the Alignment Stage, rotate the
polarization groove towards the vertical axis. The
Input Housing will drop snugly into position when
the groove and polarization key are aligned; it will
not “snap” into place.
4) Mount or fix the fiber so that it is butted up to
a power meter detector. Measure the power exiting
the fiber. If the power is less than 0.25 mW, use a
1/8” hex driver and the coarse θxand θyadjust-
ments to increase the power throughput. This is
done in iteration by turning one adjustment screw
at a time. The coarse θxand θyadjustments
should be very close to being aligned when
you receive it. You should see a change of 5
