The Institute of Optics provides a two-semester sequence for students pursing either a degree in Optics or Optical Engineering. During the Fall semester students learn the processes to undertake both a research project or a product development project. They also review system design material relevant to either a basic science project or a technology development project. Potential customers and thesis advisors present potential projects to the students. Students then make a choice whether they will complete the Optics major by individually developing a senior thesis or complete an Optical Engineering major by working on project team. Optical Engineering students rank their choices of the available projects. Students interested in completed the Optics degree select a thesis advisor.
During the Spring semester the Optics students complete their thesis research under the supervision of their advisor while periodically updating the course instructor on their progress. The Optical Engineering teams meet with their customers, course instructor and faculty advisors throughout the semester as they complete product requirement and design documents perform design reviews and complete they projects. As required by their project and approach, they do detailed design, perform prototype tests, write code and refine their design with the goal of providing a detailed report and prototype (if required) to the customer at the end of the semester. Optical Engineering students typically are required to participate in Design Day. Participation of Optics students is highly encouraged.
Contact Information:
Professor Wayne Knox
wknox@UR.Rochester.edu
585-273-5520
OPT/OPE Design Projects
- AGR – A Hyperspectral System with Spatial Resolution
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 is meant to quickly and precisely determine crop health by analyzing the reflected spectrum from plants at spatial and spectral resolutions far superior than what […] - ASML Broadband Single-mode Fiber CouplerDCORE4 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 design. The ASML fiber team was tasked with designing a broadband fiber coupler. The Broad Wavelength Range Single Mode Fiber Coupling Optic project aims to […]
- ASML Computational Imaging to Compensate Optical Aberrations
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 software (CODE V and Zemax) to simulate images with different spatial frequencies and aberrations to base our algorithm on. Background We are working with incoherent […] - CubeSatTeam 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 freeform optics in a telescope design suitable for a cube satellite. The desired product is a freeform telescope objective imaging into a spectrometer. The system […]
- iTESTTeam 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 eye doctor’s appointment without the hassle of traveling and booking an appointment. Our team worked on adding to what this package can offer by setting […]
- META360 – Hybrid Refractive-Metalens DesignThe 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.
- Myopia Control with 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. - Nighthawk Solutions DIY Telescope Kit for Kids; Inspiration for Science and TechnologyMission 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 kids by giving them the opportunity to put it together and align it themselves. The telescope has been design with a strong emphasis on modularity […]
- SPLAYOptical 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 a very short focal length. The project goal is to reduce the focal length of the current projector design by half while maintaining all other […]
Optics Thesis Projects
- Nonlinear Propagation of Volumetrically Full Poincaré Beams
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 photon than ordinary light [1]. Moreover, recent research showed that polarization structured beams resist the self-focusing effect through nonlinear propagation more than ordinary light [2]. […] - Pupil mask mask system for a MEMS DM segmented mirror modelAntony 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 in space as they allow users to get nanometer measurements of alignment errors without the need of another instrument like an interferometer. During the development […]
- Using Raman Analysis to Identify Microplastics in Environmental SamplesKaleigh 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 environment and it is imperative that a way to remove them be found as their adverse long-term impacts on human health are relatively unknown. Typically […]
Optics Archive
- A Photonic Electro-Optic Circuit for On-Chip Quantum Frequency Processing
Designing a Hadamard gate on an integrated Silicon photonic chip - AR
The Nanostructure AR coating project aims to Investigate and model nanostructure AR coatings on OptiLayer and OptiRE software. - CAM360 – Designing a Tilable Fully Reflective Wide Angle Telescope
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. - CIRCLE
A 360° tessellated, parallax-reduced, cinema camera system. - CubeSat
We designed an optical system for a NASA ROSES proposal. The system would be housed within a CubeSat and study Zodiacal light. - Effects of Estimate Phase Screen Placement
on Digital Holography Imaging Through
Atmospheric TurbulenceDetermining where best to locate estimate phase screens when correcting volume turbulence through post-processing - EYEZ
Development of a telehealth platform that provides digital optical prescriptions, making high quality vision accessible to everyone. - FIBER
A one or two sentence description of your project. - Full Poincaré Fields Composed of a Discrete Number of Plane WavesA one or two sentence description of your project.
- Hyperion: A 3D Visualization Platform for Optical Design of Folded Systems
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. - iMGA one or two sentence description of your project.
- Impact of Optical Parametric Amplification Phase on Laser Pulse Compression
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 the continued development of ultrashort pulse generation. A precise control and knowledge of a systems spectral and spatial phase is required for Fourier transform-limited pulse […] - iTESTTeam 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 test that can be taken with just a computer, bypassing the need for traditional optometry visits. It aims to: 1) improve the ease and accessibility […]
- Myopia Control with Optical DesignThis 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.
- NANOAR
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. - Nighthawk Solutions DIY Telescope Kit for Kids; Inspiration for Science and TechnologyMission 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 kids by giving them the opportunity to put it together and align it themselves. The telescope has been design with a strong emphasis on modularity […]
- Optimization of Silicon Photomultiplier Detectors for Fast Fluorescence Imaging
Improving silicon photomultiplier bandwidth for fast, low-signal applications. - OTICS
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. - Plasmonic Nanoantenna Array Metasurfaces and Colloidal Nanoparticles for Single-Photon Source Applications
Investigating indistinguishable single-photon sources in the visible range. - PLASTIXA one or two sentence description of your project.
- Reflective Imaging in Scanning Electron Microscopes
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. - RMSCWe designed an interactive and educational imaging system. The guest will be able to project an image onto a screen.
- Salmanowitz ThesisA one or two sentence description of your project.
- SKY
An indoor lighting system designed to simulate the sun. - SUITCASE
The Virtual Optics Suitcase makes engaging optics demonstrations accessible, encouraging careers in STEM. - Team ThermoThe 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 time, effort, and assistance: Subhash Singh, Chunlie Guo, Greg Schmidt, Wayne Knox, Duncan Moore, Meir Brea, Ed Herger, and James Alkins.
- Two-Color Nonlocal Aberration CancellationA one or two sentence description of your project.
- WOBBLY
Exploring mechanical solutions to reduce the effects of turbulence on the Zygo Verifire™ interferometer - Yanik ThesisProbability distributions of work and entropy of a qubit engine powered by simultaneous weak quantum measurements.
- Zhengynag Xu Thesis
Improving closed-loop wavefront correction speed for primate retinal imaging.