Summer Short Course Series for Professionals

2025: Offered in person as a complete series, no registrations for individual lectures will be permitted.

This course runs from May 27 – June 13 (no weekends).

Course Description

This is a three-week, in-person lab experience that can be taken in total or broken up into separate one- or two-week sessions. All laboratory units are equivalent to OPT 454 MS HOME Laboratory (OPT 401, OPT 402, and OPT 403 in succession).

Each experiment is divided up into six- or twelve-hour sessions where students will construct optical systems from individual components encompassing disciplines utilizing polarization and wave retardance, fiber lasers, acousto-optics, diffraction, second harmonic generation, photovoltaic and photoconductive detection, continuous-wave infrared lasers, interferometry, and so much more. Space is limited.

Sessions

Session A

This session is a pre-requisite for sessions B and C.

May 27 – May 30 (OPT 401 equivalent)

• AM lab: 9 a.m. – noon
• PM lab: 1:30 – 4:30 p.m.

Session B

June 2 – June 6 (OPT 402 equivalent)

• AM lab: 9 a.m. – noon
• PM lab: 1:30 – 4:30 p.m.

Session C

June 9 – June 13 (OPT 403 equivalent)

• AM lab: 9 a.m. – noon
• PM lab: 1:30 – 4:30 p.m.

2025: Offered remotely and in person. This course runs from June 9-13 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 2:30-5:30 p.m. (weekdays only).

This course is offered as a complete series, registrations for individual lectures will not be permitted.

Course Description

Building optical systems requires multiple disciplines to work in harmony to achieve system performance. An optical design is good only if the lenses can be manufactured and the tolerances can be met during assembly and alignment. Mastering the skills necessary to successfully design, build, and assemble complex optical systems can take years of practical experience. This course distills these concepts some fundamental aspects melded with practical examples to give participants a general background in the field.

Instructors: Jon Ellis and Kate Medicus

Sessions

Session 1: Principles of Opto-mechanical Engineering

Date: June 9, Monday (0.5 days)
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Description: This session covers the basic concepts needed for this course. It includes terminology, material properties, mechanical engineering concepts, and the intersection between mechanical properties and optical properties. It will cover differences between mechanical and optical axes, reference surfaces, and datums.

Session 2: Benchtop Optical Mounting and Alignment

Date: June 9, Monday (0.5 days)
Time: 2:30-5:30 p.m.
Description: Numerous companies provide a suite of off-the-shelf components and lenses. This session covers optomechanical concepts for using these types of systems, including benefits and limitations. This session will also cover basic alignment techniques using benchtop systems.

Session 3: Custom Optical Mounting I

Date: June 10, Tuesday (0.5 days)
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Description: High performance optical systems often require custom optical designs and mounting. This is in part due to the limitations of catalog component geometries and implications for packaging. Many custom optical systems use the relatively straightforward concept of lenses in a tube as a design archetype. This session covers some of the design principles and analysis required to put lenses in a tube.

Session 4: Custom Optical Mounting II

Date: June 10, Tuesday (0.5 days)
Time: 2:30-5:30 p.m.
Description: More advanced optical systems require more advanced mounting and analysis. This session expands the concept of lenses in tube to include bond rings, flexure mounts, and other mounting configurations.

Session 5: Design for Manufacturing

Date: June 11, Wednesday (0.5 days)
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Description: An optical design is only viable if the components can be made. This tutorial covers the features necessary to design for manufacturing, including lens tolerances and limitations for mechanical mount manufacturing. This session also covers ISO 10110 prints and suggestions for improving the communication between designers and manufacturers.

Session 6: Design for Environment

Date: June 11, Wednesday (0.5 days)
Time: 2:30-5:30 p.m.
Description: Much like design for manufacturing, designing for the operating environment is a critical aspect of the system design process. This session covers topics related to thermal effects, shock, and vibration in optical systems. This session also covers basic finite element analysis (FEA) concepts, including the limitations of FEA for certain environments.

Session 7: Design for Assembly and Test

Date: June 12, Thursday (0.5 days)
Time: 10 a.m.-1p.m.
Description: This session covers the last of the integrated design concepts, specifically designing with the assembly and testing process in mind. This is a critical aspect to ensure specifications are met during the testing process. For complex systems, compensators are often included as part of the design. This session also covers practical concepts related to compensators.

Session 8: The Lens Centering Station

Date: June 12, Thursday (0.5 days)
Time: 2:30-5:30 p.m.
Description: Active alignment of lenses requires using a lens centering station to ensure components are aligned to the optical axis. This session covers the fundamental operations of the Lens Center Station, including practical examples of issues with decentration, tilt, wedge, and other optical effects while actively aligning lenses. Additionally, topics related to practical implementation such as precise positioning and fixing during alignment are covered.

Session 9: System Assembly Techniques

Date: June 13, Friday (0.5 days)
Time: 10 a.m.-1p.m.
Description: Not all systems are aligned on a Lens Centering Station. This session covers practical laboratory techniques for assembling and aligning optical systems, including alignment telescopes, tooling, datum transferring and referencing, and other concepts.

Session 10: Optical System Measurements

Date: June 13, Friday (0.5 days)
Time: 2:30-5:30 p.m.
Description: Once a system is fully assembled and aligned, it must be tested to ensure performance specifications are met. This session covers techniques for system performance testing, including interferometry, wavefront sensing, MTF testing, Star tests, and others.

2025: Offered remotely as a full series, registrations for individual lectures will not be permitted. Labs must be done in person.

This course runs from June 9 to 13 with both morning and afternoon sessions.

Sessions

Session 1a: First Order Layout of Optical Systems (In-Person and Remote)

Date: June 9, Monday
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Instructor: Professor Julie Bentley (Rochester)
Class type: In-person and remote
Description: This short course begins with a review of fundamental first-order geometrical optical concepts such as optical path, Snell's law, focal length, magnification, cardinal points, pupils, and paraxial ray tracing. The first-order concepts are then applied to the design and thin-lens layout of a wide variety of optical systems/instruments ranging from the eye to magnifiers, telescopes, microscopes, camera objectives, eyepieces, relay lenses, and illumination systems.

Session 1b: Image Quality Evaluation and Aberration Theory (In-Person and Remote)

Date: June 9, Monday
Time: 2:30-5:30 p.m.
Instructor: Professor Julie Bentley (Rochester)
Class type: In-person and remote
Description: Common image quality metrics (e.g. spot diagrams, transverse ray plots, RMS wavefront, Strehl ratio and MTF) and their uses in optical design will be presented. Then aberration theory is discussed starting with single surface contributions and then thin lens theory. First order chromatic aberrations, third order aberrations (spherical aberration, coma, astigmatism, Petzval, and distortion), and higher order aberrations are covered using the approach of how to first identify them and then how to correct them during the optical design process.

Session 2a: Optimization and Improving a Design (In-Person and Remote)

Date: June 10, Tuesday
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Instructor: Professor Julie Bentley (Rochester)
Class type: In-person and remote
Description: Topics covered include variable definition, local vs global optimization, merit function setup, and optimization algorithms. Optimization tips and standard methods for improving a design (e.g. stop shift, color correction, and splitting and compounding elements) are given.

Session 2b: Laboratory: Introduction to optical design software (In Person)

Date: June 10, Tuesday
Time: 2:30-5:30 p.m.
Class type: In person
Description: Attendees will move to a computer laboratory where they will have access to optical design and analysis software (e.g., CODE V and Zemax) and be given problems in lens entry, image quality evaluation and optimization with instructors on hand to assist and answers questions.

Session 3a: Illumination Design (In-Person and Remote)

Date: June 11, Wednesday
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Class type: In-person and remote
Instructor: Rich N. Pfisterer (Photon Engineering)
Description: Basics of illumination design, review of radiometry and photometry, etendue, ray statistics, modeling sources, compound parabolic concentrators (CPCs), edge ray principle, lightpipes, hybrid optics, an introduction to backlit displays and projection displays, tolerancing.

Session 3b: Laboratory: introduction to optical engineering software (FRED) (In Person)

Date: June 11, Wednesday
Time: 2:30-5:30 p.m.
Class type: In-person
Instructor: Rich N. Pfisterer (Photon Engineering)
Description: Attendees will move to a computer laboratory where they will have access to FRED and be given problems in illumination design with instructors on hand to assist and answers questions.

Session 4a: Stray Light Analysis (In-Person and Remote)

Date: June 12, Thursday
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Class type: In-person and remote
Instructor: Rich N. Pfisterer (Photon Engineering)
Description: Stray light mechanisms, bidirectional scatter distribution function (BSDF), total integrated scatter (TIS), Lambertian scatter, scatter from optical surfaces, scatter from paints, scatter from particulates, rough surfaces, a rational approach to stray light analysis, stray light metrics (PST, percent stray light, contrast/veiling glare, ghost image formation, unintended diffraction orders, thermal self-emission, infield stray light, diffraction), well-baffled systems.

Session 4b: Refractive and Reflective Optical Design Forms  (In-Person and Remote)

Date: June 12, Thursday
Time: 2:30-5:30 p.m.
Class type: In-person and remote
Instructor: Professor Julie Bentley (Rochester)
Description: A survey of both refractive and reflective design forms will be discussed along with their limiting aberrations and uses in optical systems. Refractive design forms to be covered range from simple singlets to wide angle and telephoto designs. Reflective design forms to be covered range from a two element Cassegrain to three and four mirror unobscured anastigmats.

Session 5a: Introduction to Tolerancing (In-Person and Remote)

Date: June 13, Friday
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Class type: In-person and remote
Instructor: Professor Julie Bentley (Rochester)
Description: Topics covered include variable definition, local vs global optimization, merit function setup, and optimization algorithms. Optimization tips and standard methods for improving a design (e.g., stop shift, color correction, and splitting and compounding elements) are given. A review of the tolerance process from assigning initial tolerance values, generating error budgets, performing a sensitivity analysis, selecting appropriate compensators, probability distributions, and Monte Carlo analyses.

Laboratory: Tolerancing a Lens Using Optical Design Software (In Person)

Date: June 13, Friday
Time: 2:30-5:30 p.m.
Class type: In-person
Description: Attendees will move to a computer laboratory where they will have access to optical design and analysis software (e.g., CODE V and Zemax) and be given problems in tolerancing with instructors on hand to assist and answers questions.

2025: Offered remotely on June 16 and 17 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 5.p.m. And remotely on June 18 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Course Description

The course is addressed to professionals in industry or academia willing to get acquainted with the practical implementation of adaptive optics technologies in the eye and specific applications in retinal imaging and in visual simulation.

Sessions

Session 1. Adaptive Optics for retinal imaging

Date: June 16, Monday
Time: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Professor: Jesse Schallek
Description: General description of adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy, and applications for imaging retinal photoreceptors, retinal ganglion cells, retinal blood cells, and biomarkers for inflammatory and systemic disease. Volumetric morphological and functional imaging,

Session 2. Adaptive Optics for visual simulation

Date: June 16, Monday
Time: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Professor: Susana Marcos
Description: General description of adaptive optics visual simulators for assessment of vision (visual performance and perceived visual quality) through manipulated aberrations. Vision under fully corrected aberrations and under induced aberrations. Neural adaptation to high order aberrations. Simulation of contact lenses and intraocular lenses. Visual simulators to aid the design of new corrections. Binocular visual simulators. Visual simulators to help guide presbyopia corrections in the clinical practice.

Session 3. How to build an adaptive optics system: wavefront sensing and aberration control

Date: June 17, Tuesday
Time: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Professor: Vahid Pourreza Gouchi and Keith Parkins
Description: Static and dynamic wavefront sensing. How to build Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensor. From retinal spot images to wave aberrations. Tolerances, resolution and dynamic range. Closed-loop correction of aberrations in adaptive optics systems. Wavefront sensors in Adaptive Optics Retinal Imaging system, Wavefront sensors for Visual Simulators. Wave aberration reporting and eye optical characterization from aberrometry data

Session 4. Step-by-step building of Adaptive Optics Retinal Imaging Systems

Date: June 17, Tuesday
Time: . 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Professor: David Fernandez and James Germann
Description: Adaptive Optics Mirrors for Adaptive Optics Retinal Imaging Systems. Light sources in Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO). Other optical components in AOSLO. General Optical layout of AOSLO systems. Woofer-tweeter AOSLO. Retinal imaging stabilization and motion correction. Software control in AOSLO. Practical examples of AOSLO configurations. AO Optical Coherence Tomography.

Session 5. Step-by-step set-up of Adaptive Optics Visual Simulators

Date: June 18, Wednesday
Time: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Professor: David Fernandez and James Germann
Description: Adaptive Optics Mirrors, Spatial Light Modulators and Optotunable lenses in Adaptive Optics Visual Simulators (AOVS). Light sources in AOVS. Visual Stimulus channel. Other optical components in AOVS. General Optical layout of AOVS systems. Step by step optical configuration of a monocular and binocular AOVS. Design elements of for miniaturizing visual simulators.

2025: Offered remotely from June 9 to 13, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily.

Sessions 

Session 1: Radiometry and Detection

Date: June 9, Monday
Time: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Professor: Gary Wicks (Rochester)
Description: Principles of radiometry. Fundamental radiation laws. Descriptions of important optical radiation detectors and their inherent limitations, including photomultipliers, photodiodes, and photoconductors.

Session 2: Photometry and Colorimetry

Date: June 10, Tuesdsy
Time: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Professor: Gary Wicks (Rochester)
Description: 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.

Session 3: Spectroscopy and its Biomedical Applications

Date: June 11, Wednesday
Time: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Professor: Andrew Berger (Rochester)
Description: This course covers several major types of optical spectroscopy: mid-infrared absorption, Raman scattering, fluorescence emission, and elastic scattering.  Fundamental theory and instrumental details will be addressed for each type.  In addition to these introductions, biomedical examples of each technique will be described in detail.

Session 4: Optical Design

Date: June 12, Thursday
Time: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Professor: Julie Bentley (Rochester)
Description: 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.

Session 5: Design of Illumination Systems

Date: June 13, Friday
Time: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Instructor: Josh Cobb (Rochester)
Description: 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.

2025: Offered remotely from June 2 to 6, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily.

Sessions

Session 1: Geometrical Optics

Date: June 2, Monday
Time: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Professor: Jim Zavislan (Rochester)
Description: Paraxial optics raytracing, cardinal points and conjugate relations, Lagrange invariant, stops and pupils, vignetting, common optical systems (cameras, telescopes, microscopes, and relay systems).

Session 2: Interference and Diffraction

Date: June 3, Tuesday
Time: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Professor: Nick Vamivakas (Rochester)

Session 3: Electromagnetic Waves

Date: June 4, Wednesday
Time: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Professor: Andrew Berger (Rochester)
Description: Maxwell’s equations, constitutive relations, positive and negative refractive indices, Lorentz and Drude models, angular spectrum, chromatic dispersion, plane waves, polarization, reflection and refraction, critical angle, Brewster angle, total internal reflection, thin-film stacks, Bragg mirrors, surface waves, scalar and vector potentials, radiation from electric dipoles.

Session 4: A Survey of Lasers and Principles of Operation

Date: June 5, Thursday
Time: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Professor: Will Renninger (Rochester)
Description: The first decade after the first laser was built in 1960, one often heard it described as an invention searching for an application, during the following three decades lasers systems were often multi-hundreds of thousands of dollar investment around which laboratories were built, but recently they have become commodities that are essential to almost every industrial and commercial sector. We will review the physical and engineering principles underlying the various types of lasers, define the basic parameters by which they are characterized, and then survey the myriad types of lasers that have been developed.

Session 5: Physics of Light Matter Interactions

Date: June 6, Friday
Time: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Professor: Nick Vamivakas (Rochester)
Description: Introduction to the particle and wave views of both light and matter. Physical descriptions of light generation and detection. Quantum engineering of optoelectronic devices and a survey of quantum technologies.

2025: Offered remotely as a complete series, registrations for individual lectures will not be permitted.

This course runs from June 2 to June 13 (excluding weekends) from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily.

Target Audience

This course is targeted for students, researchers, and engineers in industry, who want to learn both the fundamental and applied aspects of integrated photonics circuits.

Course Description

In this course you will learn photonic integrated devices from fundamentals to device layout. The course covers the fundamentals of optical waveguides, how they can be used to create passive and active components for photonic integrated circuits, and the application of photonic integrated circuits to sensing. It starts from individual waveguides and waveguide bends all the way to a Mach-Zehnder interferometer.

Prerequisites

Familiarity with optics and electromagnetics is a prerequisite. It is assumed that each attendee has taken a course on physical optics or electromagnetic theory in the past. However, no previous knowledge of integrated photonics or optical waveguides is required.

Sessions

These sessions are held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. each of the days listed:

• Waveguide Theory
  • June 2, Monday
  • Professor Pablo Postigo (Rochester)
• PIC Sensors,
  • June 3, Tuesday
  • Professor Ben Miller (Rochester)
• Passive and Active Devices
  • June 4, Wednesday
  • Professor Pablo Postigo (Rochester)
• Quantum Photonics
  • June 5, Thursday
  • Professor A. Dutt (University of Maryland)
• Packaging
  • June 6, Friday
  • Professor Stefan Preble (Rochester Institute of Technology)

2025: Offered remotely from June 9 to 13, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily.

Course Description

This course introduces the fundamentals of lasers, laser performance, and applications. Topics include the physics of laser operation, laser cavities, laser types and applications, performance metrics, polarization optics in lasers, and laser amplifiers.

Sessions

Session 1: Introduction to Lasers, Types, and Performance Metrics

Date: June 9, Monday
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Instructors: Katelynn Bauer (Rochester)/Leon Waxer (LLNL)
Description: The fundamental components of a laser are introduced alongside the main properties of a laser: spontaneous and stimulated emission, spatial and temporal coherence, and monochromaticity. This introduction will be followed by a survey of different laser classes (gas, solid, fiber, etc.) and the various metrics used to quantify laser performance.

Session 2: Gain, Loss, and How It All Works

Date: June 10, Tuesday
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Instructor: Leon Waxer (LLNL)
Description: Fundamentals of laser gain media, models of laser system performance, and continuous-wave and pulsed laser operation

Session 3: Laser Cavities

Date: June 11, Wednesday
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Instructor: Katelynn Bauer
Description: An introduction to the properties of laser cavities, including the discussion of spatial and temporal modes and Gaussian beam propagation. ABCD matrices will be used to propagate a Gaussian mode. Also, the specifications of a cavity will be defined for various applications, such as output pulse length, wavelength, etc.

Session 4: Laser Amplifiers and Chirped Pulse Amplification

Date: June 12, Thursday
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Instructor: Leon Waxer (LLNL)
Description: An introduction to high-energy laser systems, laser amplifiers and amplification of ultrafast laser pulses.

Session 5: Polarization

Date: June 13, Friday
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Instructors: Katelynn Bauer (Rochester)
Description: A brief overview of polarization and Jones matrices. Discussion will be focused on polarization optics often used in laser systems such as waveplates, beam splitters, Pockels cells, Faraday rotators, coated optics and gratings.

2025: Offered remotely.

This course runs from June 9 to 13 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily.

Sessions

Session 1: Optical Engineering for Biomedical Optics

Date: June 9, Monday
Time: 10 a.m.-1p.m.
Instructor: Professor Jim Zavislan (Rochester)

Session 2: Optical Testing and Instrumentation

Date: June 10, Tuesday
Time: 10 a.m.-1p.m.
Instructor: Dr. Paul Murphy (QED Optics)
Description: Interferometric optical testing, including Fizeau, Twyman-Green, Mach-Zehnder, Scatterplate, and Smartt point-diffraction interferometers are described for the testing of optical components and optical systems. Theory and applications of phase-shifting interferometers are discussed. Special techniques for the testing of aspheric surfaces are outlined.

Session 3: Wave-Front Sensing

Date: June 11, Wednesday
Time: 10 a.m.-1p.m.
Instructor: Seung-Whan Bahk (Rochester, Laboratory for Laser Energetics)

Session 4: Optical Thin Films

Date: June 12, Thursday
Time: 10 a.m.-1p.m.
Instructor: Dr. Jennifer Kruschwitz (Rochester)
Description: Survey of applications for optical thin-film coatings; reflectance and transmittance at a boundary; vector methods and the Smith chart. Production considerations, including vacuum evaporation, evaporation sources, uniformity calculations, thickness monitoring, chamber configuration, and materials.

Session 5: Introduction to Electronic Imaging: A Systems Approach

Date: June 13, Friday
Time: 10 a.m.-1p.m.
Instructor: Jonathan Phillips (Imatest)
Description: This course provides an overview of electronic imaging systems, describing the stages of image capture, digital processing, image output and viewing by a human observer. The student will become familiar with sampling and aliasing as they pertain to two-dimensional sensor arrays, digitization and sensor noise sources, CCD and CMOS architectures, and issues relating to correct matching of lenses and sensor arrays. Basic digital image processing algorithms such as demosaicing, deconvolution and sharpening will be discussed, and computational imaging concepts such as extended depth of field will be introduced. Digital image output in the form of projection displays, flat panel displays, and digital writers will be discussed. Finally, the spatial, temporal, and chromatic response of the human visual system will be reviewed, in the context of setting specifications for electronic imaging systems.

2025: Offered remotely.

This course runs from June 2 to 11 (excluding weekends) from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. daily.

Course Description

The course serves both as an introduction and a review for engineers and scientists of the principles of optical interference filter design while considering, in addition, recent advances in the current technology. Five sessions cover basic design techniques, coating types and their characteristics. The other five sessions include coating fabrication, substrate preparation, characterization, and digital design techniques. 

Sessions

Design of Single-Layer Films

Date: June 2, Monday
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Instructor: Dr. James B. Oliver
Description: Index of refraction, absorption, dispersion, coating, and substrate materials. Reflectance and transmittance of substrates and single-layer films, optical thickness, and interference. Coherent versus incoherent illumination.

Design-Anti-Reflection Coatings

Date: June 3, Tuesday
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Instructor: Dr. James B. Oliver
Description: AR Coatings: Single layer, two-layer, multilayer, and gradient index. Graphical design techniques; computer optimization techniques.

Coating Techniques

Date: June 4, Wednesday
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Instructor: Dr. James B. Oliver
Description: Review of various methods for producing optical films, thin film structure, optical and physical thickness monitoring techniques, uniformity, and process control. Review of thin film structure and formation, vacuum environment, and components of a deposition system including evaporation sources, assist sources, and optical/physical thickness monitoring.

Design-High Reflector Coatings

Date: June 5, Thursday
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Instructor: Dr. James B. Oliver
Description: Dielectric reflectors: quarterwave stack, modified quarterwave stack, broad band reflectors. Order suppression, electric field profiles, rugate designs. Metal films, enhanced metal reflectors.

Design Non-normal Incidence

Date: June 6, Friday
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Instructor: Dr. James B. Oliver
Description: Polarization of light. Incidence angle effects on refractive index and filter design. Polarizing beam splitter and phase control coatings.

Methods of Substrate Motion in a Deposition System

Date: June 9, Monday
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Instructor: Dr. James B. Oliver
Description: Modeling of thin-film uniformity, stresses in thin films, and process control for precision optical coatings.

Design-Band Pass Filters

Date: June 10, Tuesday
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Instructor: Dr. James B. Oliver
Description: Short and long wavelength and narrow band pass filters. Band pass filter design techniques: Herpin equivalent index, blocking methods. Metal-dielectric filters and graphical design techniques.

Optical Coatings and Color

Date: June 11, Wednesday
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Instructor: Dr. Jennifer Kruschwitz (Rochester)
Description: Coating designs used in color applications: lighting, display, anti-counterfeiting and iridescent pigments, color targets, sunglasses, architectural, etc. Color spaces (i.e. 1931 Chromaticity Diagram, CIELuv, CIELab) and color difference formulas.

2025: Offered remotely and in person. This course runs from June 9-13 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 2:30-5:30 p.m.

This course is offered as a complete series, registrations for individual lectures will not be permitted.

Course Description

Building optical systems requires multiple disciplines to work in harmony to achieve system performance. An optical design is good only if the lenses can be manufactured and the tolerances can be met during assembly and alignment. Mastering the skills necessary to successfully design, build, and assemble complex optical systems can take years of practical experience. This course distills these concepts some fundamental aspects melded with practical examples to give participants a general background in the field.

Instructors: Jon Ellis and Kate Medicus

Sessions

Session 1: Principles of Opto-mechanical Engineering

Date: June 9, Monday (0.5 days)
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Description: This session covers the basic concepts needed for this course. It includes terminology, material properties, mechanical engineering concepts, and the intersection between mechanical properties and optical properties. It will cover differences between mechanical and optical axes, reference surfaces, and datums.

Session 2: Benchtop Optical Mounting and Alignment

Date: June 9, Monday (0.5 days)
Time: 2:30-5:30 p.m.
Description: Numerous companies provide a suite of off-the-shelf components and lenses. This session covers optomechanical concepts for using these types of systems, including benefits and limitations. This session will also cover basic alignment techniques using benchtop systems.

Session 3: Custom Optical Mounting I

Date: June 10, Tuesday (0.5 days)
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Description: High performance optical systems often require custom optical designs and mounting. This is in part due to the limitations of catalog component geometries and implications for packaging. Many custom optical systems use the relatively straightforward concept of lenses in a tube as a design archetype. This session covers some of the design principles and analysis required to put lenses in a tube.

Session 4: Custom Optical Mounting II

Date: June 10, Tuesday (0.5 days) 
Time: 2:30-5:30 p.m.
Description: More advanced optical systems require more advanced mounting and analysis. This session expands the concept of lenses in tube to include bond rings, flexure mounts, and other mounting configurations.

Session 5: Design for Manufacturing

Date: June 11, Wednesday (0.5 days)
Time: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Description: An optical design is only viable if the components can be made. This tutorial covers the features necessary to design for manufacturing, including lens tolerances and limitations for mechanical mount manufacturing. This session also covers ISO 10110 prints and suggestions for improving the communication between designers and manufacturers.

Session 6: Design for Environment

Date: June 11, Wednesday (0.5 days) 
Time: 2:30-5:30 p.m.
Description: Much like design for manufacturing, designing for the operating environment is a critical aspect of the system design process. This session covers topics related to thermal effects, shock, and vibration in optical systems. This session also covers basic finite element analysis (FEA) concepts, including the limitations of FEA for certain environments.

Session 7: Design for Assembly and Test

Date: June 12, Thursday (0.5 days)
Time: 10 a.m.-1p.m.
Description: This session covers the last of the integrated design concepts, specifically designing with the assembly and testing process in mind. This is a critical aspect to ensure specifications are met during the testing process. For complex systems, compensators are often included as part of the design. This session also covers practical concepts related to compensators. 

Session 8: The Lens Centering Station

Date: June 12, Thursday (0.5 days) 
Time: 2:30-5:30 p.m.
Description: Active alignment of lenses requires using a lens centering station to ensure components are aligned to the optical axis. This session covers the fundamental operations of the Lens Center Station, including practical examples of issues with decentration, tilt, wedge, and other optical effects while actively aligning lenses. Additionally, topics related to practical implementation such as precise positioning and fixing during alignment are covered.

Session 9: System Assembly Techniques

Date: June 13, Friday (0.5 days)
Time: 10 a.m.-1p.m.
Description: Not all systems are aligned on a Lens Centering Station. This session covers practical laboratory techniques for assembling and aligning optical systems, including alignment telescopes, tooling, datum transferring and referencing, and other concepts.

Session 10: Optical System Measurements

Date: June 13, Friday (0.5 days) 
Time: 2:30-5:30 p.m.
Description: Once a system is fully assembled and aligned, it must be tested to ensure performance specifications are met. This session covers techniques for system performance testing, including interferometry, wavefront sensing, MTF testing, Star tests, and others.

2025: Offered remotely. This course runs from June 16-20 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

This course is offered as a complete series, registrations for individual lectures will not be permitted.

Course Description

This course serves as an introduction to ultrafast laser systems with an emphasis on chirped pulse amplification and the generation of ultrahigh peak powers and irradiances.

Instructor: Professor Leon Waxer (Rochester)

Sessions

Monday, June 16: Introduction to Ultrafast Optics and Petawatt Lasers

Tuesday, June 17: Chirped Pulse Amplification

Wednesday, June 18: Broadband Laser Amplifiers

Thursday, June 19: Ultrafast Pulse Characterization

Friday, June 20: System Design Considerations