Now seeking articles and information for the March 2020 Images eNewsletter -  Deadline March 1st.  Please send to donn@e-las.net

UCI Optical Engineering 10 yrs - Photonics Spectra
from September 2019 Photonics Spectra Magazine

The following courses are part of Certificate Programs in:
Optical Engineering and Optical Instrument Design

There was an Information Session - Monday 19 August
OSSC Fellow Donn Silberman was the guest speaker.

Winter 2020 courses began in early January:

Advanced Lens Design
Optical Instrument Design
Optomechanical Systems Engineering

Go to the links above to learn more about the courses and programs.

Email:  Kadie Heck
with confirmed OSSC Membership
to receive discount code.

Laser and Photonics Technology instructors lead hands-on, laboratory-driven classes, utilizing state-of-the-art industrial equipment, based on the industry-guided photonics curricula written by industry professionals.  In addition to laboratory skills, students are offered one-on-one support and career advice, including résumé and LinkedIn profile building.

IVC Laser Technology is located on the
IDEA at the ATEP campus in Tustin, CA

Read a related article in SPIE's new Photonics Focus magazine titled....
Where is the New Collar Workforce?
Optics companies large and small face a hiring shortage
for skilled technicians

by
Jed Buchwald Caltech History of Science Professor.

Abstract:  The pressures of politics, the desire to be first in innovation, moral convictions, and the potential dangers of unwitting error are all factors that have long been at work in the history of science and technology.  Historians think and argue best through stories, so I’ve chosen several tales to tell each of which exemplifies one or more of these aspects, though some reach back nearly 200 years.  The first is the most recent and concerns the depletion of the ozone layer; the second involves the discovery of electric waves by Heinrich Hertz in 1888; the third concerns the controlled production of electromagnetic radiation by Marconi and Fleming in the early 1900s; the fourth portrays the circumstances surrounding Fraunhofer’s discovery and use of the spectral lines in the 1810s; our final case involves a bitter controversy between the physicist Hermann von Helmholtz and the astronomer Friedrich Zöllner in the 1890s.

by
Dr. Michael Sholl, SpaceX

Abstract:  The Supernova Acceleration Probe (SNAP) was a proposed experiment designed to quantify dark energy by measuring the redshift-magnitude diagram of supernovae and to quantify the growth of structure in the universe by measuring weak gravitational lensing over cosmological distances.  These techniques, along with baryon acoustic oscillation, are used to constrain dark energy density and matter density in modern cosmological models.  The baseline SNAP telescope was an ambient temperature, annular-field, configuration II Korsch, three-mirror anastigmat (TMA), designed to fly at the L2 Earth-Sun Lagrange point.  The SNAP project evolved into the Joint Dark Energy Mission (JDEM), and finally the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST).  Stray light analyses of the SNAP telescope included both overall systems engineering and budgeting, and detailed non-sequential modeling of the effects of dust, roughness and thermal infrared emission, as well as stop placement and baffle design.  The goal of the stray light design was to ensure that stray light in the 0.4 to 1.7 micron wavelength range did not exceed a small fraction of Zodiacal radiation within the mission's target field near the North ecliptic pole.  At visible wavelengths, the primary source of stray light was starlight scattered by the telescope mirrors.  In the longest wavelength bands, thermal emission from the mirrors and structure dominated the budget. Scattered stray light and thermal emissions were mitigated by baffles, an internal field stop, and a cold (140K) internal aperture stop.  Stray light scattered by mirror roughness and particulate contamination, as well as scattering from the telescope baffles, were modeled and shown to be less than 10% of Zodiacal levels in all bands.

by
Kurt Ponsor, President
Mindrum Precision

Abstract:  Astronomy is taking off with many discoveries!  From black holes, to gravitational waves our scientific instruments are pushing new boundaries, but do we pay them enough attention?  With a desire to get more people to follow the real stars rather than the Kardashians, we’ll review a wide variety of telescopes and draw some interesting threads thru time.  As Hubble turns 30 years old in April and Spitzer Space Telescope will end its mission on 30th January, we’ll provide some humorous comparisons to what is important in our twitter feed. Join us as we anticipate the release of the decadal survey coming in mid-2020, and we’ll look at new materials which help push the limits of these telescopes.  Materials like Titanium Zirconium Molybdenum (TZM) and new ways to cut Silicon Carbide or Boron Carbide with electrical discharge machining.

Venue:  St. Gregory Armenian Church

by
Professor V. Ara Apkarian,
Director of UC Irvine’s Center for Chemistry at the Space-Time Limit (CaSTL)

Abstract:  The internal vibrations of molecules drive the structural transformations that underpin chemistry and cellular function.  While vibrational frequencies are measured by spectroscopy, the normal modes of motion are inferred through theory because their visualization would require microscopy with ångström-scale spatial resolution nearly three orders of magnitude smaller than the diffraction limit in optics.  Using a metallic tip to focus light and taking advantage of the surface-enhanced Raman effect to amplify the signal from individual molecules, tip-enhanced Raman spectromicroscopy (TER-SM) reaches the requisite sub-molecular spatial resolution, confirming that light can be confined in picocavities and anticipating the direct visualization of molecular vibrations. Here, by using TER-SM at the precisely controllable junction of a cryogenic ultrahigh-vacuum scanning tunneling microscope, we show that ångström-scale resolution is attained at subatomic separation between the tip atom and a molecule in the quantum tunneling regime of plasmons.  We record vibrational spectra within a single molecule, obtain images of normal modes and atomically parse the intramolecular charges and currents driven by vibrations. Our analysis provides a paradigm for optics in the atomistic near-field.

Venue:  Angelo’s and Vinci’s