(a) Making a parallel beam of light or particles (b) Fiddling around with mirrors and slits in the hope that you end up with a setup that looks like the one in the lab script and actually does what it's supposed to This is very difficult and it is my personal belief that there is a whole team of goblins dedicated to ruining lab experiments This also explains why physics demonstrations NEVER WORK Ever The laws of physics are suspended for this lesson etc etc
The alignment of the direction of the photons, so the beam of radiation can be directed at a well-defined part of a target material
The act of collimating; the adjustment of the line of the sights, as the axial line of the telescope of an instrument, into its proper position relative to the other parts of the instrument
The process of aligning the optical system of a telescope so that the light gathered is brought to a focus at the correct position
The process by which a divergent or convergent beam of electromagnetic radiation is converted into a beam with the minimum divergence or convergence possible for that system (ideally, a bundle of parallel rays) (188)
the operation of controlling a beam of radiation so that if the light source were a point, the light rays would become parallel The total bundle of rays diverge as the source size increases
To bring into line; to make parallel; to adjust accurately the line of sight of (a telescope) An instrument with the cross hairs perfectly adjusted is said to be collimated
The process by which divergent rays (white, or natural, light) are converted into parallel rays (coherent light)
The procedure of aligning fire control radar system antenna axes with optical line of sight, thereby ensuring that the radars will provide for correct target illumination and guidance beam positioning
This refers to how correctly the optics are pointing towards each other If a telescope is out of collimation, you will not get as clear an image as you should Refractors generally have fixed optics, so you don't have to collimate them Reflectors and catadioptrics usually have screws that you turn to collimate (This only takes a few minutes to do- it is dead easy)
The process of aligning all the elements of an optical system Collimation is routinely needed in reflectors, often in Catadioptric systems, but seldom in a refractor Optical Tube Assembly: The housing and optical train of a telescope; not including the mount, diagonal, eyepiece, or accessories
In order for a telescope to perform at its best, it must have all of its optical components - lenses, mirrors, focuser, etc - aligned properly Aligning the optics of a telescope is know as collimation Refractors and Maksutov-Cassegrains come from the factory with their collimation permanently set and should not require adjustment Newtonians and Schmidt-Cassegrains require occasional collimation Truss-tube Dobsonian telescopes must be collimated each time they are assembled Click here for more information on how to collimate your telescope