The Institute of Optics / Optical Engineering (OPT/OPE)

The project aims to design a simple, child-friendly telescope capable of resolving Jupiter’s Red Spot, based on an existing Newtonian design. Improvements include a new focusing system, changing of material, better alignment via collimation screws, and a phone mount for easy astrophotography.

We investigate the formation of new emitters for single photon source applications by laser irradiation of different types of materials: silicon nitride, silver nanocubes, and a silicone-based contact lens hydrogel polymer. Single-emitter confocal fluorescence microscopy, low-light spectroscopy, and a Hanbury Brown-Twiss correlator are used for characterization of laser-induced photoluminescence centers.

Kunyang (Benny) Cao, B.S. Optics 2026 Advisors: Professor Pablo A. Postigo, Christer Everly 1. Abstract Low threshold laser is desired to reduce power consumption and minimize the thermal load in…

Our project focuses on designing a Tunable Bilayer Grating Coupler (TBGC) that is capable of identifying the orientation of dipoles such as NV centers and single molecules. Current systems for…

We investigate the formation of new emitters for single photon source applications by laser irradiation of different types of materials: silicon nitride, silver nanocubes, and a silicone-based contact lens hydrogel polymer. Single-emitter confocal fluorescence microscopy, low-light spectroscopy, and a Hanbury Brown-Twiss correlator are used for characterization of laser-induced photoluminescence centers.

Kunyang (Benny) Cao, B.S. Optics 2026 Advisors: Professor Pablo A. Postigo, Christer Everly 1. Abstract Low threshold laser is desired to reduce power consumption and minimize the thermal load in…

Our project focuses on designing a Tunable Bilayer Grating Coupler (TBGC) that is capable of identifying the orientation of dipoles such as NV centers and single molecules. Current systems for…

Cadmium selenide nanoplatelets (a two-dimensional variant of the quantum dot) are increasingly used in optical devices due to their bright and tunable emission characteristics.

However, to use these colloidal particles in practical photonic devices, the direct patterning of micron-scale features remains a grand-challenge.

Using thin-film fabrication and UV lithography tools inside the URnano cleanroom, we have been able to direct-write nanoplatelet patterns inside Fabry-Perot cavities with features as small as one micron, and show strong light-matter coupling with greater Rabi splitting than typically seen in this geometry due to stronger lateral electric field confinement.

The capability to create arbitrary patterns in nanoplatelet films will enable the fabrication of chiral meta-structures which opens up the possibility to observe and study chiral strong light-matter coupling and exciton-polariton photo-physics.

This project investigates a classical nonlinear interferometer designed to mimic the halved fringe spacing of N00N state quantum interferometry.

This project studies the effects of pulsed lasers on aluminum and graphite, and uses spectroscopy to analyze the contents of the created plasma.

Team Customers Advisors Additional Assistance Abstract The purpose of this project was to redesign the telescope from last year’s senior design project in a way that was both more compact…

Our project concentrates on using PlanOpSim’s optimization algorithm software to enhance the efficiency and functionality of nanostructured optical devices. Unlike traditional engineering methods, in which a structure is designed and then tested, inverse design begins with a target optical response and uses computational methods to determine the optimal nanostructure to achieve that function. For our first objective, we designed a metasurface capable of displaying two distinct holographic images depending on whether the incident light is in the TE or TM polarization state. For the second, we aimed to design a metasurface that produces specific colors by controlling the interaction of light with carefully engineered nanostructures.

We created model retinas for fundus imaging, which simulate several parts of the retina.

The low numerical aperture multimode fiber project is a detailed fiber design and simulation developed by a team of undergraduate senior students. As such, the inputs were determined through discussion with our project customer, ASML. We are designing a fiber to support ASML’s YieldStar (YS) optics sensor for scanning wafers using white light with the wavelength range of 400 to 1000 nm and another fiber to operate at a wavelength of 1070 nm meant to preheat a mirror for a separate lithography machine.

This work investigates material birefringence as a means to determine microplastic identity in samples.

Team Members Customer Daniel Brooks – Optimax Systems, Inc. Mentor Dr. Aaron Bauer – Institute of Optics Abstract The goal of this design project was to build an alignment tool…

This group is designing a broadband anti-reflection coating and an imaging multivariate optical element coating to eliminate the need for software-based image analysis for AGR’s handheld camera system.

Abstract The aim of this project is to explore designs for a vibrometer for semiconductor wafer measuring machines. These wafers power all of our modern computers and cellphones, and are…

The goal of this thesis is to design and build a tunable flying focus experimental setup using adaptive optics. The flying focus technique produces an extended intensity peak which moves at a designed focal velocity independent of the medium group velocity. This requires an optical system that can extend the focal region beyond the Rayleigh length as well as impart sufficient radial group delay to achieve spatiotemporal control. An axiparabola is used to extend the focal region and a deformable mirror imparts a user defined radial group delay to achieve spatiotemporal control. The tunability of this technique will be used to optimize secondary source generation experiments such as laser wakefield acceleration and terahertz generation.

The 3D printing project aims to design, create, and test a polymer printed part that houses a f/5.6, eight element system. After the system was completed, repeatability measurements were done along with testing our procedure on the similar f/8 system.

Tatsunosuke Hanano Mentor Professor Robert Boyd Abstract Light with structured polarization is called polarization structured beams, and they have gotten attention because of their ability to process more information per…

Antony Georgiadis Mentors Professor James Fienup and Joseph Tang Abstract Wavefront sensing via phase retrieval algorithms are critical to enabling the use of large aperture systems on the ground and…

Kaleigh Rook Mentors Dr. Andrew Berger and Dr. Samantha Romanick “Everything you make returns to the Earth as either food or poison.” Abstract Microplastics have permeated every corner of our…

Nicholas Achuthan Mentors Professors Pablo Postigo and Jaime Cardenas Abstract Single photon emitters (SPEs) are a key building block for integrated quantum photonic circuits, but current implementations rely on heterogeneous…

Team Mentor Prof. Jennifer Kruschwitz Background IRL Glasses is a product with the goal of minimizing the amount of technology people have to interact  with on a daily basis. The first…

Optical Design of a Compact Projector Lens for a Portable Display Project Vision The desired product is a portable display consisting of a collapsible screen and a compact projector with…

Team Mentor Professor Greg Schmidt Abstract Our Group’s Senior Design Team was tasked with designing a museum exhibit for RMSC that offered a fun experience for participants of all ages…

The META360 project seeks to enhance the current Circle Optics 360º field-of-view stitch-free camera system using novel meta-optics technology. Using Synopsys’ new MetaOptic Designer software, we explore the use of meta-optics in a hybrid lens design.

Team Customer Dr. Daniel Brooks – Optimax Systems Inc. Mentor Dr. Aaron Bauer – Institute of Optics Abstract The goal of this design project was to demonstrate the capabilities of…

The purpose of this project is to create a computational algorithm capable of taking an aberrated image and correct it to a sharp high contrast image. We used optical design…

This senior design-driven project creates accurate Zemax ray-tracing models of the human eye to evaluate diffractive-refractive hybrid contact lenses for correcting wavefront error and chromatic aberration. The eventual goal is to apply the technology to school-aged children to prevent the progression of myopia development.

Team Mentor Brandon Zimmerman Abstract The Clear Eye Exam allows for users to take an eye exam from their home and obtain an eye prescription. This lets people have an…

DCORE4 Team Mentors Govind P. Agrawal, Julie Bentley, Jacob Roccabruno Abstract The optical senior design class at the University of Rochester strives to tackle engineering problems through engineering processes and…

Team Mentor Professor Greg Schmidt Abstract Advanced Growing Resources (AGR), is pioneering targeting systems that send mass pesticide blanketing towards obsolescence. The targeting system that was designed during this project…

Mission Statement The goal of our project is to create a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) telescope that provides an engaging and educational experience for kids. The telescope will come fully disassembled, empowering…

In this thesis, we numerically and analytically analyzed the superposition of multiple paraxial plane waves and discovered the pattern of such superpositions composing FP fields.

Investigation and analysis of creating mirror fields to deflect the primary electron beam with charged materials. Electron mirrors produce a fisheye view of the interior of the SEM sample chamber.

Improving closed-loop wavefront correction speed for primate retinal imaging.

Probability distributions of work and entropy of a qubit engine powered by simultaneous weak quantum measurements.

Improving silicon photomultiplier bandwidth for fast, low-signal applications.

Determining where best to locate estimate phase screens when correcting volume turbulence through post-processing

Two-Color Nonlocal Aberration Cancellation is one of the many exciting applications of quantum entanglement. In this experiment we create position-momentum entangled photons via SPDC.

We designed an optical system for a NASA ROSES proposal. The system would be housed within a CubeSat and study Zodiacal light.

The simulation will model the output characteristics as light travels through the fiber, giving a rare look at a otherwise inaccessible areas of the fiber.

We designed an interactive and educational imaging system. The guest will be able to project an image onto a screen.

Have you heard of an AR coating without actually coating any materials while working for a wide bandwidth from UV to IR? That is the nanostructure coating.

Our goal is to use existing tools and our optical knowledge to build a simulation tool that carries out a rigorous optical analysis and simulates the imaging of a satellite at a range of distances, attitudes, and illumination angles.

Team Rachel Chan Zihao Li Sinabu Pumulo Mentor Brandon Zimmerman Abstract The Clear Eye Test is a virtual eye prescription platform that measures refractive error of the eye with a…

Venturing into the fully reflective design space to find a wide angle telescopic design that is parallax corrected so that they can be tiled to capture a much higher field of view.

Designing a Hadamard gate on an integrated Silicon photonic chip

Jonathan Musgrave Advisor: Dr. Jake Bromage Optical Parametric Chirp Pulse Amplification (OPCPA) is an intensely researched topic and has gained a lot of traction in the past 25 years for…

Investigating indistinguishable single-photon sources in the visible range.

Exploring mechanical solutions to reduce the effects of turbulence on the Zygo Verifire™ interferometer

The solar steam turbine is a design that uses a femtosecond laser-processed superwicking metal sheet to generate electricity via steam generation. Team Thermo wishes to thank the following for their…

The Virtual Optics Suitcase makes engaging optics demonstrations accessible, encouraging careers in STEM.

An indoor lighting system designed to simulate the sun.

The Hybrid Endoscope/Microscope project is a senior design project that aims to design and build a system that combines the endoscope’s view and the microscope’s view during ENT surgery.

Development of a telehealth platform that provides digital optical prescriptions, making high quality vision accessible to everyone.

A 360° tessellated, parallax-reduced, cinema camera system.

The Nanostructure AR coating project aims to Investigate and model nanostructure AR coatings on OptiLayer and OptiRE software.

Hyperion is a 3D visualization platform for optical design. It provides a fully immersive, and interactive 3D user experience. It enables the visualization of models of folded freeform optical systems. The frontend user experience is supported by the computational ray-tracing engine of Eikonal+, an optical design research software. We have built a cross-platform light-weight version of Eikonal+ that can communicate with any user interface. We have also demonstrated a prototype of the 3D user experience using a Hololens AR display.