The disclosure relates to an apparatus for mounting optical components in a manner that self-aligns the optical axes of the optical components. The apparatus uses an optical component mount that includes a housing consisting of a single rail mount configured to mechanically couple to a portion of a rail for supporting the optical component mount on a rail. The housing also has an optical component dock configured to support an optical component in a manner that defines an optical axis. The rail mount and the optical component dock are configured to make the optical axis substantially parallel with a longitudinal axis of the rail. Using such optical component mounts secured to the rail would result in the self-alignment of the optical axes of optical components on the optical component mounts. Various embodiments of such apparatus are also provided in the disclosure.