83205904 A description referring to fig1 u2013 9 there are shown several attachment alignment procedure mechanical holding mechanism and gripping apparatus which are used to align and attach optical components such as optical lenses optical fibers optical beam splitters optical reflectors wavelength selective elements and other optical elements to a common platform with sub micrometer accuracy and high long term reliability and stability these provide three dimensional 3 d freedom of movement on a common platform for these elements the novel apparatus and methods are described hereinbelow for the alignment and attachment of optical lenses made of glass however the methods and apparatus are configured to attach lenses made of other materials and other type of elements such as lenses with metal or plastic housing optical fibers or any other optical element with a similar or corresponding geometry referring now to fig1 and 2 and in a preferred embodiment of the present invention there is shown an optical lens 5 which has a flat side 10 on its periphery a side mount gripper mechanism 20 is used to selectively position lens 5 with respect to holding block 15 and is also used to selectively position both lens 5 and holding block 15 with respect to a common platform 25 a block of proper material 15 which here after is referred to as holding block 15 is configured for selective mating and attachment with lens 5 a gripper mechanism 20 is used to selectively position lens 5 with respect to holding block 15 and is also used to selectively position both.