The PSM is an unusually flexible optical test instrument with many unique features that set it apart from other optical test instruments. This is why we call it the “Swiss Army Knife” of optical instruments.

  

As opposed to most optical test instruments, the PSM is lightweight and has a small physical footprint. This means the PSM is used and mounted in places many other instruments cannot be used because of their size and mass. The PSM is easily mounted on a common xyz stage found in most optical labs and shops and is easily built into other optical test instrumentation. 

  

The PSM is multiple instruments in one like the Swiss Army Knife; used with a microscope objective it is an auto stigmatic microscope useful for measuring radii of curvature and optical alignment among other uses, while used without an objective it is an autocollimator with a small aperture that is particularly useful for measuring errors in small prisms and windows.

  

The PSM is sensitive to a very wide range of intensities due to an adjustable internal laser diode light source and an adjustable camera. The internal source has a bright mode for aligning the PSM under ambient lighting of about 0.3mW and an adjustable range to avoid camera saturation of 25 μW down to 25 pW. The camera shutter is controllable over a range of 1000 and has a gain of 10. This gives a total dynamic range of intensities of easily handled of about 108.