Collimator for ready fitting to an optical device with precise optical alignment without need for adjusting positions or angles to compensate for offsets or deviations during optical device assembly and method of making same

A method of making a collimator having a lens centered about a collimator axis and enclosed by an outer sleeve, for precise alignment of an optical path emanating from the collimator to obviate need for adjusting the collimator to compensate for a translational offset and an angular deviation of the optical path with respect to the collimator axis when the collimator is assembled to an optical device, the method comprising the steps of:

• transmitting light through the collimator to provide a light spot along the optical path emanating from the collimator;
• detecting the light spot at a first longitudinal position;
• recording a first center position of the light spot on a transverse planar coordinate;
• detecting the light spot at a second longitudinal position;
• recording a second center position of the light spot on the transverse planar coordinate;
• computing the offset and the deviation based upon the first and second longitudinal positions and the first and second center positions of the light spot;
• and
• removing a portion of the outer sleeve according to the offset and the deviation, to form an outer cylindrical surface that is concentric with the optical path.