Applied Concepts

Course Description

Please note: The course descriptions and instructors listed below are NOT final, it is possible that circumstances beyond our control could necessitate alterations.

2023: offered remotely from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily

June 7, Wednesday

Optical Design, Professor Jim Zavislan (Rochester)

More advanced analysis of optical imaging systems, with an emphasis on optical aberrations. Topics include chromatic aberrations; simple achromatic systems; third-order aberrations; wavefront shape and transverse ray aberrations; tracing real rays; aberrations of thin lenses; effects of bending and stop shift; and image analysis and improvement.

June 8, Thursday

Radiometry and Detection, Professor Gary Wicks (Rochester)

Principles of radiometry. Fundamental radiation laws. Descriptions of important optical radiation detectors and their inherent limitations, including photomultipliers, photodiodes, and photoconductors.

June 9, Friday

Photometry and Colorimetry, Professor Gary Wicks (Rochester)

Brightness and color are familiar qualitative aspects of light. Quantitative treatments of these characteristics of light are developed in Photometry and Colorimetry, enabling calculations of the brightness and color of optical sources.

June 12, Monday

Optics and Vision, Professor Jennifer Hunter (Rochester)

Although often taken for granted, human vision involves a sophisticated imagining system that combines intricate optical and neural machinery inside the eye that allows us to see. The optics of the human eye are imperfect, but well matched to the sampling density of the retina. This lecture will explore the aberrations of the eye and other important optical properties. In addition, we will discuss exciting new optical technologies for correcting vision and for imaging the inside of the eye with unprecedented resolution.

June 13, Tuesday

Design of Illumination Systems, Josh Cobb (Rochester)

This course presents the student with an introduction to the concept of etendue, or the size of a light source, as a fundamental parameter in the design of illumination systems. This concept is then applied to the design of illumination systems such as Koehler illuminators and Abbe illuminators. Practical examples are presented that will show the student how light from a source can be arranged into the spatial and angular distributions required by the optical system.