The goal of these talks is to share the exciting things that are happening quietly in the OSC laboratories with the rest of the community. Everyone (students, staff, faculty) is encouraged to attend, as the talks should be given at a level to be enjoyed by non-specialists.
Here are some guidelines if you are interested in giving a talk
We encourage presentations from OSC students, faculty and staff. This is an excellent opportunity to share your enthusiasm with a wider group. Please contact Stacey Sueoca(ssueoka@optics.arizona.edu), Laura Coyle (lcoyle@optics.arizona.edu),Tianquan Su (tsu@optics.arizona.edu) for more information.
Speakers for Spring 2011 All events start at noon in Room 410 and pizza/refreshments will be served Jan 21st
| SOCk Officers,
Byron Cocilovo
| Find out what's going on in the Student Optics Chapter this semester!
Also, learn more about the new OSC Mystery Hunt.
| | | Kali Wilson
| Life and Times of the BEC Paparazzi.
In the Bose-Einstein Condensation Lab we spend a great deal of time perturbing
and then imaging the coolest thing in Arizona, a Rb87 BEC, all in the name of
investigating vortex dynamics and superfluid turbulence. This involves both finding
new ways to generate vortex states as well as developing techniques for gaining as
much information as possible about the density and phase profile of the condensate.
I will describe a new imaging technique that I am in the process of implementing
that will enable us to image the spatial density profile of the BEC in three
dimensions and will discuss what we hope to learn with that additional dimension. | Feb 4th
| Matt Jungwirth
| Who was the first scientist?
Depending on your definition, science has existed for over 2000 years. We are now a part of this grand tradition. This begs the question, who started us on this journey? This is highly dependent on your definition of "science" and your reading of history. I will explore my view of both of these aspects in this talk to try to answer this question.
| | | Kellan Chase
| Optomechanical Design
| Feb 18th
| Joseph Rzewuski
|
University Research and Export Compliance
| | | Ezra Milby
|
Summers, Salaries, and Some Suppositions Surrounding the (S)workforce
| March 4th
| Bob Parks
| Software Configurable Optical Test System
A software configurable optical test system (SCOTS) based on the geometry of the fringe reflection or phase measuring deflectometry method was developed for rapidly, robustly, and accurately measuring large, highly aspherical shapes such as solar collectors and primary mirrors for astronomical telescopes
| | | Ricky Gibson
| Nanobeam Cavities for Silicon Photonics
Recently our research group has investigated high-Q, small mode volume
photonic crystal nanobeam cavities using a curved, tapered optical
microfiber loop as well as a resonant scattering apparatus. We are
currently investigating methods of improving
the quality factor and temperature sensitivity of the nanobeams by
depositing dielectrics on top of the nanobeams using atomic layer
deposition (ALD). These results and future directions of the project
will be discussed while you enjoy your pizza.
| March 25th
| Garam Yun
| Retardance algorithm using a polarization ray
tracing matrix
The polarization dependent phase
change associated with a ray path through an optical
system has two components: (1) the proper retardance; the phase retardation (optical path difference)
arising from physical processes, such as propagation through birefringent
materials or reflection or refraction from a surface, and (2) a geometric
transformation due to the local coordinate selection
used for determining the phase. Our goal
is to develop a retardance calculation algorithm which separates the geometric
transformation, an “optical activity-like” geometric rotation and/or inversion, from the proper retardance. In this
presentation the concept of retardance is
critically analyzed for ray paths through optical systems described by a three-by-three polarization
ray tracing matrix.
Retardance algorithms and examples will be presented.
| | | Justin Paul
| "Laser-Cooled
Mercury Spectroscopy: Why on earth would anyone need a clock
with 18 digit accuracy?"
What is an atomic clock,
and what do we use them for? I'll explain what an atomic frequency
standard is, what we can use them for, and what we are doing in our lab to make
(hopefully) the most accurate atomic clock in existence using laser-cooled
mercury. I will talk briefly about the laser-cooling and trapping process
used to confine the atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) and describe our work
in laser source development to build a cooling laser for our mercury atoms.
Lastly I will include some data and preliminary characterization of the
physical properties of our mercury MOT, and future work to be done towards our
goal of an atomic frequency standard.
| April 8th
| Mr. Michael Gauvin | Lighting Design for the future featuring LITESTAR 4D
| April 22nd
| Eduardo Bendek, Blake Coughenour, Wenrui Cai, Anael Guilmo
| Chile Outreach
Come hear the wrap up from the first successful incarnation of Optical Outreach Abroad!
| May 6th
| HyoJun Seok
| Generation of squeezing via magnetic dipoles on cantilevers
We
investigate the generation of motional squeezed states in a
nano-mechanical cantilever. Our model system consists of a nanoscale
cantilever — whose center-of-mass motion is initially cooled to its
quantum mechanical ground state -- magnetically coupled a classically
driven mechanical tuning fork. We show that the magnetic dipole-dipole
interaction can produce significant phonon squeezing
of the center-of-mass motion of the cantilever, and evaluate the effect
of various dissipation channels, including the coupling of the
cantilever to a heat bath and phase and amplitude fluctuations in the
oscillating field driving the tuning fork.
| | | Michelle Higgins
Corissa Quijada
| Leadership and STEM
We are not just camping, cookies and crafts. Through informal STEM
(Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education, Girl Scouts has
evolved to address some of the most prevalent systemic causes behind
illiteracy, poverty, obesity, hunger, homelessness,
and violence. Partner with Girl Scouts to make an impact, share your
passion for science and engineering, and inspire a girl. |
Speakers for Fall 2010 All events start at noon in Room 410 and pizza/refreshments will be served Aug 27th
| Dr. Richard M. Youngworth
Director of Optical Engineering
Light Capture, Inc.
| An introductory look at Forbes aspheres, a
revolutionary means to define aspheric surfaces
The age of the asphere is upon the optics community. Increasingly difficult
requirements, viable production methods, and mature design software have all
enabled increased prevalence of these types of elements. Surprisingly, the most
common means for describing aspheres has not matured beyond the simple to
write, yet extremely ill-conditioned, monomial expansion. This talk will
provide an introduction to a new orthogonal basis definition for aspheres that
is commonly being called Forbes aspheres, named after their inventor Dr. Greg
Forbes of QED Technologies. These surfaces are rapidly gaining acceptance in
the broad optical design, metrology, fabrication, and standards community. The
surface definitions, significant design and manufacturability advantages,
practical examples, and a summary of work in this area will all be shown.
Youngworth Presentation - Forbes Aspheres
| Sept 10th
| Intro Day
| Hear from the various activities within Optical Sciences to find out what is going on this year!
| Sept 24th
| Miena Armanious
| Ultra-wideband Self-Compensating Antennas: Numerical Demonstration of the Electromagnetic Working Principle
To achieve a dispersionless channel, the receiver must counteract
the dispersion caused by the transmitter, assuming that the propagating medium is dispersionless. If identical antennas are
used for transmission and reception, constraints are placed on the antenna of
interest, since the temporal transmit and receive responses of an antenna are
linked through reciprocity and related by a time derivative. By invoking the
concept of a half-derivative, a half-differentiator transmitter in the time domain (TD) will operate as a half-integrator receiver
over some range of frequencies. In the frequency domain (FD) this corresponds
to a transfer function that behaves in a similar fashion as the 2D Green’s
function due to a line source. The required antenna should transmit and receive
cylindrical waves efficiently. When used in UWB applications, a receiving
antenna with this property will counteract its dispersion effect as a
transmitter, providing a flat overall channel gain. In this work, a numerical model
for a rotationally symmetric structure with a dielectric lens is used as a
transmitter to verify the above proposition. I will brief explain the principle on which the
antenna works as cylindrical source. A study of FD and TD parameters of the
model are provided. The limitations due to the dielectric lens are also addressed, and other geometries of similar characteristics
are modeled. In these examples, I demonstrate how the information contained in
the radiated fields can help in predicting the flatness of channel gain. |
| Matt Jungwirth | Channeled Spetropolarimetry in an Optical Trombone
Polarimetry is a subset of optics that studies polarized light. A commonly utilized device in this field is a polarimeter, which determines the state of polarization of the incident radiation. One recent technique in polarimetry is called channeled spectropolarimetry, where the Stokes vector, a 4x1 vector that describes the state of polarization, is mapped onto coincident spatial carrier fringe frequencies. Using this method, we have developed a white-light polarimeter in an optical trombone, thereby allowing great optical path difference tenability. Preliminary results of our system have errors of 15-16% RMS in correctly identifying the incident polarized state. | | Oct 8th | Dr. Sean McCafferty
| Advances in Refractive Surgery Research Corneal
surface irregularities and central island formation are a persistent and
ubiquitous problem following excimer (193nm) laser corneal refractive
procedures, even with flying spot lasers.
The central island effects have been minimized by algorithms to
over-ablate the central cornea; however it is likely they still exist. Current research introduces a new
theory and explores its mechanism in explaining induced surface irregularities
and central island formation following excimer laser corneal refractive
procedures.
The excimer
laser produces irregularities highly similar, albeit attenuated, to that
produced by a known collagen contracting agent, the CO2 laser. Also, the excimer laser has been shown to
produce a temperature which induces collagen contraction. Therefore, the most
probable conclusion is that the excimer laser causes these irregularities and
central islands through corneal collagen contraction. This theory is also
predicted and supported by previously presented mathematical modeling. The theory is simple and utilizes verified
and well established mechanics that are known to occur in the human
cornea. A clear understanding of the
mechanism which causes corneal surface irregularities following refractive
procedures plays the pinnacle role in maximizing visual outcomes.
| Oct 22nd
| Dr. John Stover
| Light Scatter Metrology
Light scatter has been used for several decades as a way to monitor surface
roughness from very smooth surfaces - mostly mirrors, wafers and disks.
The objective was almost always reducing scatter – less was better. Today
scatter metrology is starting find applications for products where surfaces are
designed to produce desired amounts of scatter. One example is the solar
photovoltaic industry where surfaces are roughened or filmed to reduce reflection
and increase absorption. Another example is maintaining uniform appearance in
common house hold items - everything from door hinges to faucets. A third
is the sweeping changes coming in the illumination industry as we change to LED
lighting - which requires redesigning reflective and transmissive housing
elements. The talk gives the basics of BRDF related definitions and
follows with examples.
Stover Presentation - Light Scatter Metrology
| Nov 5th
| ;) Julia Craven | A Novel Infared Imaging Spectropolarimeter
A compact and field portable SWIR/MWIR hyperspectral imaging polarimeter
is currently under development at the Optical Detection Lab. The sensor
uses a pair of sapphire Wollaston prisms and high order retarders to
form an imaging birefringent Fourier transform spectropolarimeter.
Polarimetric data are acquired through the use of channeled
spectropolarimetry to modulate the interferogram with the Stokes
parameter information. The three dimensional interferogram is Fourier
filtered and reconstructed to recover the complete Stokes vector across
the image. I will be presenting current instrument development progress,
laboratory and outdoor results, as well as our plans for future work.
| | |
Sukumar Murali
| "Sampling requirements for an Interferometric Stokes imaging polarimeter"
Interferometric methods to encode polarization information in a single
image is a novel technology. Polarimeters using this technology lack
moving parts and does not require post processing routines to register
the images. A reconstructor employing spatial domain approach (unit
cells) is used to estimate the Stokes images. The polarization fringe
variations must be faster than the scene modulations to avoid
polarization artifacts in the estimated Stokes images. The choice of
unit cell size relative to the width of the Point Spread Function (PSF)
plays an important role in reducing errors in reconstruction. Minimum
error in reconstruction occurs when the spatial resolution is sacrificed
for accuracy in polarization measurements. The tradeoff between spatial
resolution and polarization accuracy applies to both Fourier and
spatial domain reconstructors.
| Nov 19th
| Cory Christenson
| An Updatable 3D Display for Near Real-Time Holographic Telepresence
Holography has fascinated the imagination since the 1960s with beautiful
3D images of real objects. Large area, full-color images with
exceptional depth have been achieved, but until recently they have
always been static. There are many non-holographic methods to achieve
dynamic 3D displays, but have limited depth and parallax and are not
autostereoscopic. Holographic displays can overcome these problems. The
current state-of-the-art in 3D displays will be presented and the
advantages of using holography discussed. Our new system for an
updatable holographic 3D display, based on a large area photorefractive
polymer, will be introduced. The system has been improved to a have a 2s
refresh rate, multi-color, and full parallax images. These
accomplishments bring three-dimensional teleconferencing and other
real-time applications a step closer. | | | Stefano Young | Come hear about what is going on in GPSC and voice your suggestions/concerns about graduate student benefits.
| Dec 3rd
| Robin Palit
Dr. Erin Dokter
| Campus Resources for College Teaching and Professional Communication
The Office of Instruction and Assessment, known
as OIA, offers support to the UA teaching community in course and
curriculum design, online course development, program and classroom
assessment and evaluation, instructional strategies and learning
technologies. Our presentation will discuss how these resources may be
of use to the optical science community and will specifically
concentrate on the certificate in college teaching.
| | |
Winners of "Best Talk" vote for Fall 2010
| 1. Cory Christenson - An Updatable 3D Display for Near Real-Time Holographic Telepresence
2. Dr. Sean McCafferty - Advances in Refractive Surgery Research
3. Julia Craven - A Novel Infared Imaging Spectropolarimeter |
Speakers for Spring 2010
All events start at noon in Room 410 and pizza/refreshments will be served
| Jan 22nd | 
Chen Li
| The Tucson Gem and Mineral Show
Each year, people gather from around the world to attend the Tucson Gem
and Mineral Show. This popular three-week event is the world's largest
mineral show. About 5500 mineral dealers participate in 40 different
satellite shows. Over 20 museums from different countries provide
exhibits and lectures. It does not matter who you are or where you are
from, as long as you love minerals, we will see you in Tucson. The
clock is ticking, the show is about to start, are you ready? | | |
SOCk General Meeting
| | | Feb 5th | 
Tyson J Ririe
| Backscattering Spectroscopy in Retinal Oximetry
Oximetry, with its numerous uses in medicine, is a significant tool
that incorporates spectroscopy to determine oxygen levels in blood.
Information that is gathered from intracellular components will change
depending on the methods used to optically examine erythrocytes.
Retinal oximetry is a noninvasive method for determining blood
oxygenation, but it is highly sensitive to the various scattering
components that arise from the complexities of the eye. An overview of
the problems involved and methods we are implementing to improve
techniques in retinal oximetry will be given. | | | 
Jun Zhang
| Hyper-NA
Imaging with Solid Immersion Optics and Induced Polarization Imaging
Science and technology research has driven
investigation of nanometer-scale structures. For example, Intel’s latest CPU is
based on 45nm lithography tool. In Blu-Ray optical data storage, 53nm minimum
bit length with 320nm pitch structure is used. In order to investigate their
characteristic with high resolution, low cost and high reliability, optical
imaging has been widely used. In this talk, a hyper-NA (NA>1) imaging system
with the solid immersion optics is illustrated. Combined with induced
polarization imaging, this technique can be used in many different fields, such
as, metrology, optical data storage, lithography and subsurface imaging | | Feb 19th | 
Pouria Valley
| Liquid Crystal Adaptive Lenses
This talk will be on the design, fabrication, and characterization of
innovative variable-focus flat liquid crystal diffractive lens with 95%
diffraction efficiency and millisecond switching times using a ±2.4V ac
input. These lenses are based on the electrical modulation of a 3
micron layer of nematic liquid crystal sandwiched between a Fresnel
zone electrode structure and a reference substrate. Each zone is
divided into 12 sub-zones to digitize the phase profiles and define the
phase wrapping points. The focusing power can rapidly be switched by
electrically changing the number of sub-zones and re-establishing the
wrapping points. Potential applications include optical zoom lenses
with no moving parts and auto-focus lenses for compact imaging devices. | | |
Meet Graduate Student Recruits!
| | | March 5th |  Amy Winkler
| Polarimetric glucose sensing is a promising method for noninvasive
estimation of blood glucose concentration. Published methods of
polarimetric glucose sensing generally rely on measuring the rotation
of light as it traverses the aqueous humor of the eye. In this
article, an interferometer is described that can detect polarization
changes due to glucose without the use of polarization control or
polarization analyzing elements. Without polarizers, this system is
sensitive to optical rotation, inherent to glucose, but minimally
sensitive to linear retardance, inherent to the cornea. The underlying
principle of the system was experimentally verified using spectral
domain optical coherence tomography. A detection scheme involving
amplitude modulation was simulated, demonstrating sensitivity to
clinically relevant glucose concentrations and an acceptable error due
to time varying linear birefringence of the cornea using Clarke Error
Grid Analysis | | |
Andrew Wall
| Focused OCT and LIF endoscope A new
focused OCT-LIF endoscope has been constructed for high resolution imaging between
325 and 1300 nm. This endoscope is 2 mm
in diameter for non-destructive imaging in
vivo. A reflective design ball lens
is employed that eliminates the difficulty of operating achromatically over a
large range, while taking advantage of TIR at two faces and coating a third
mirror face internally to focus the beams downwards. It is a 1:1 imaging system that obtains a
theoretical diffraction-limited resolution for both the OCT (800-1300 nm) and
LIF (greater than 325 nm) channels.
| | April 2nd | 
Robin Palit | A method to compute the singular value decomposition (SVD) of
imaging systems with rotational symmetry and its use within the field
of medical imaging
Many medical imaging systems can be modeled by a linear
operator H that maps an object vector f to an image vector g. A useful
tool towards the analysis of a linear system is the singular value
decomposition (SVD) of H. For imaging modalities that collect data at
a large number of angles the dimensions of H are typically large enough
that even with sparse storage techniques standard SVD computations are
impractical because of storage space and memory issues. This talk will
discus a method to reduce the dimensionality in the SVD computation of
H for imaging systems with rotational symmetry. It will be shown that
in the presence of rotational symmetry the SVD computation can be
reduced by a factor of J where J is the total number of data collection
angles by the imaging. Results of a proof of concept experiment to
validate this SVD technique will be presented and the extension of the
technique to a realistic model of a clinical CT system will be
discussed. | | | 
Boris Glebov
| Random Acts of Science
A long time ago I realized that the things that are important are often
not nearly as interesting as the nearby unimportant things. For
example, Newton's Laws and Hook's Law are, without a doubt, beautiful
and important. But the fact that Hook and Newton hated each
other, and supposedly used to get into fist fights is far more interesting.
What I would like to discuss is how scientific progress is frequently a
tangled mess, and advances are intersections of seemingly random and
unrelated strands, and important observations are sometimes made on
accident, or while trying to observe something entirely opposite.
In the (supposed) words of Isaac Asimov, "The most exciting phrase to
hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!'
('I found it!'), but rather, 'Hm... that's funny'." | | April 16th | 
Alejandra Lopez | All-optical Magnetometer based on Magnetite Core
– Polymer Shell Nanocomposite Material
Magnetic field sensors
have been an intensive area of research over the last few decades and optical
magnetometers have reached sensitivities that make them interesting candidates
for applications such as magneto-encephalography and magneto-cardiography.
Extensive magneto-optic studies have been performed of magnetic field sensing
based on inorganic rare-earth materials such as yttrium iron garnet, Tb+3
doped paramagnetic glass, and gallium gadolinium garnet in non-cryogenic
conditions. Lately, the design,
synthesis and study of magneto-optic nanocomposite materials with magnetic
nanoparticles embedded in a non-magnetic host matrix, have also attracted
significant attention as these mesoscopic materials are expected to exploit the
magnetic and optical properties of the nanoparticles alongside the ease of
processability of the host. This polymer-based
approach has several advantages due to their inherent low cost and easy
processability, along with the possible tunability of the magneto-optic
properties, refractive indices and mechanical properties, increasing their
appeal as potential candidates for high sensitivity magnetic field
sensing. In this talk, I will discuss a
novel magnetite core-PMMA shell nanocomposite based all-optical magnetic field
sensing system and demonstrate that the magnetic nanoparticles can be used to
detect the magnetic field in the nanoTesla (nT) range. | | |
Randy Accetta
| McGuire
Entrepreneurship Program Recruiting Open House
Class of 2011 application announcement
Accepting applications now!
Are you interested in developing an entrepreneurial skill set to
compliment your scientific, disciplinary and professional areas of
expertise? If so, the McGuire Entrepreneurship Program is uniquely
designed to prepare you to move your innovative ideas to reality. We will
hold a short information session on the top-ranked McGuire Entrepreneurship
Program. The University of Arizona is home to a national leader and
globally-recognized program in entrepreneurship—and that program is open to
graduate students from the entire University.
No prior business background is required -- the McGuire Program
teaches you how to create a new venture from initial idea to investment-ready
commercialization. Recent student start-up such as Verdant Earth, 50 Mile
Farms, Innovis, LensSense and others have been recognized in local and national
press, including ABC’s Shark Tank, the Wall Street Journal, the Arizona Daily
Star, the U.S. News and World Report, and others. Please see http://entrepreneurship.eller.arizona.edu/apply/masters.asp#requirements for
all information on the application process.
| | April 30th | 
Angela Guzman
Physics Department, Florida Atlantic University
777 Glades Rd
Boca Raton, FL 33433,USA.
angela.guzman@fau.edu
|
Non-Markovian control of decoherence in a three-qubit gate
After a short introduction to the activities of the International
Commission for Optics, a theoretical scheme based on the use of third
ancillary qubit for achieving reduction of decoherence during a
neutral-atom quantum gate operation will be presented.
Controlled collisions between cold atoms trapped in spin-dependent
optical lattices were proposed more than a decade ago as a means to
implement a two-qubit quantum phase-gate, a basic and universal
building blocks for the construction of more complex quantum
information processing with neutral atoms in optical lattices. The
corresponding experimental demonstration has however been elusive and
will rely not only on the ability to manipulate the atoms in an
efficient and controlled way, but also on an accurate theoretical
description of the interactions and the type of collision leading to
the expected output.
Former theoretical models are based on a decoherence-free
s-scattering description of the atomic collision. Due to the presence
of the optical lattice, the atomic collision is in fact ruled by the
dipole-dipole interaction. The quantum dipole-dipole interaction is
mediated by the electromagnetic vacuum, which acts as a reservoir
opening an infinite number of channels for transitions out of the
two-qubit state space during gate operation and reducing strongly its
fidelity. From this perspective the electromagnetic interaction, while
being essential for the gate operation, constitutes a more serious
drawback to quantum information with neutral atoms than does memory
decoherence [Quantum Information S&T Roadmapping Project, 2004]. We
propose here the introduction of a third ancillary qubit in order to
control decoherence during gate operation. After tracing over the
states of the EM vacuum, the effective quantum dipole-dipole
interaction between atoms in an optical lattice consists of a
dipole-dipole potential and a space-modulated rate of transitions from
and back to the two-qubit state space. We study the non-Markovian
dynamics of a cold atom collision between three qubits in neighbor
sites of a 1D optical lattice. We find a "resonance like" condition for
a three-qubit gate, for which strong suppression of decoherence due
gate operation is achieved for a two-qubit gate, the third qubit
serving as a probability storage. We conclude that at least
three-qubits will be needed as building blocks of neutral atom quantum
computers in order to achieve high fidelity operation.
| WINNERS- Spring 2010
| Best Technical Talk
| Pouria Valley - Liquid Crystal Adaptive Lenses
| | | Most Entertaining Talk
| Chen Li - The Tucson Gem and Mineral Show
|
Speakers for Fall 2009 All events start at noon in Room 410 and pizza/refreshments will be served Sept 4th
|
Student Optics Chapter Events
| 1. Tim - LBT Trip Committee, Fall 2009
2. Stefano - SWSOC Committee, Summer 2010
3. Leo - Mexico Trip, Spring 2010
4. Anael - Sports Friday
5. Roland - The Very Happy Hour
6. Journal Club?
7. Brittany Lynn - Outreach
8. Kali - Women in Optics
| Sept 18th
| 
Leonardo Montilla
| Real-time Pulse Echo and Photoacoustic Imaging Using an Ultrasound Array and Inline Reflective Illumination
Photoacoustic imaging
requires pulsed light to be absorbed by the area of interest and the induced
acoustic waves detected by a distant ultrasound transducer. Difficulty exists
in illuminating thick samples for photoacoustic imaging because light has to be
directed around the transducer. We present a method of efficiently delivering
light around a linear array transducer. The method exploits a prism to transmit
light while reflecting the acoustic waves. The measured pulse echo spatial
dimensions (-6dB) of 0.5 mm graphite rods submerged in water with the device
was .40 mm x .45 mm (axial x lateral). As this is close to the nominal spatial
dimensions of .35 mm x .45 mm, the introduction of the prism did not degrade
the image quality significantly. A system with these capabilities may not only
facilitate small animal photoacoustic imaging, but it may also promote
transition of this modality into clinical practice. | | |
Ragnar Olafsson | Ultrasound Current Source Density Imaging of a time-varying current field
in a multielectrode nerve chamber
Interventional neurosurgery requires precise mapping of cortical
activity prior to resection to minimize the loss of function. This
laborious and time consuming mapping procedure is performed with
surface and penetrating electrodes. Ultrasound Current Source Density
Imaging (UCSDI) is a new imaging technique, developed at the
Experimental Ultrasound and Neural Engineering Laboratory (EUNIL) that
can potentially improve this procedure. UCSDI maps electrical current
distributions based on the acoustoelectric (AE) effect, an interaction
between ultrasound and electricity. The potential advantages of UCSDI
are high spatial resolution defined by the ultrasonic point spread
function, automatic registration to B-mode ultrasound, and fast mapping
with electronically steered beams. This talk will describe UCSDI and
recent efforts at EUNIL to use it to map bioelectric activity of
peripheral nerves.
| | Oct 2nd | 
Stefano Young
| Image Quality in Medical Imaging: Sending Your Message with Numbers
In
medical and other types of imaging, statements about image quality
often lack a rigorous proof or quantitative explanation of their
validity. Some researchers believe that a pair of images, coupled with
qualitative statements like “As shown in the figure, our system offers better image quality”,
is a sufficient demonstration of improvement. However, to
systematically improve the imaging capabilities of the science
community, researchers need methods for quantifying image quality in
complex imaging systems involving many variables. The medical image
quality community has developed methods for quantitative or
“task-based” image quality assessment; and image scientists in our lab
have demonstrated application of these methods to complex medical
imaging problems. For example, I collaborated with the Food & Drug
Administration’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) to
develop methods for quantifying image quality in digital breast
tomosynthesis (DBT) systems. This presentation addresses problems with
the current image quality paradigm, explains fundamental concepts in
task-based image quality assessment, and provides an example
application of these concepts to the complex problem of DBT.
In
general, when reading or writing imaging papers on topics such as DBT,
researchers should insist on a quantitative, task-based approach to
making statements about image quality. This will provide the imaging
community with consistent tools for measuring the performance of
imaging systems. Applying task-based assessment principles to DBT, we
quantified the image quality for an idealized system while accounting
for different sources of variability in the imaging process.
Specifically, we estimated image quality metrics for clinically
significant hardware acquisition parameters such as angular span,
number of angular projections, and study dose while incorporating an
ensemble of randomly-generated digital patient models. Using the
example of DBT, the audience can imagine applying these task-based
assessment tools to other research problems which they encounter. The
fundamental principles for quantifying medical image quality are
established, but the imaging community needs to invest more effort in
applying these principles to novel three-dimensional imaging systems.
In future work with the CDRH, our idealized model of DBT should be
expanded to include realistic models for other sources of variability
such as x-ray scatter and detector blur. Results from future studies
could be used to inform the design of imaging hardware and software
reconstruction algorithms. Our image science group at the UA also
plans to use a task-based assessment framework to quantify the image
quality of diffuse optical imaging systems. |
| 
Roger Zaldivar
| 20 / 20 is not enough!
Direct
measurement of ocular
light scatter can confirm the role of early cataract in the genesis of
visual
symptoms. Is it possible that patients come to my office and complain
that they
don’t feel comfortable with their vision despite having a 20/20 visual
acuity
test? We will prove that the answer is ‘Yes’… and the main reason is
that in
the early stages of cataract formation visual disturbances may appear
while visual acuity in standard conditions is still preserved. So the
question is… how
can we document the need for a surgery with these conditions? How do we
as
surgeons prove that the patient is really uncomfortable with his vision
and
needs a surgical procedure? These patients
typically complain that headlights, lamps, or sunlight may appear too
bright,
with halos appearing around objects. Poor night vision, glare, double
vision,
or multiple images in one eye are possible signs of early cataract,
which can be
compatible with 20/20 BCVA or UCVA. In these situations, visual
disturbances are caused by
crystalline lens opacity, which randomly refract and diffract the
incident light
focused toward the retina.2 This effect, called intraocular scattering, reduces the patient’s quality of vision. Most of the instruments and devices that we
have measure aberrations in a very acceptable way but they don’t measure
scatter. Recently, a double-pass
aberrometry developed by Optics Engineer Pablo Artal and his coworkers was introduced
in Spain. This technique does not depend on the accuracy of the wavefront
reconstruction; it integrates higher-order aberrations and light scatter into a
prediction of retinal image quality. I m going to share some examples from the
Zaldivar Institute located in Mendoza
Argentina, where this machine is being tested and you will realize how useful
this device can be. | | Oct 16th | 
Hacene Chaouch | Internships abroad are always a unique opportunity for students. New
environment, new research topics and sometimes new friends make the
this journey a wonderful experience and undoubtedly an amazing source
of motivation and excitement. This Friday I will present my personal
experience at Deutsche Telekom in Darmstadt, Germany, and give an
overview of the work accomplished and the related theoretical and
physical investigations. | | | 
Earl Parsons |
I spent this summer researching at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light located in
Erlangen, Germany. I will speak about my experience working abroad in
these institutions and about my project with nonlinear optical loop
mirrors.
A nonlinear optical loop mirror with a bidirectional attenuator has
been used for regeneration of return to zero differential phase shift
keyed (RZ-DPSK) signals. A 2.5 ps, 10 Gb/s signal with amplitude
fluctuations of ~15% was regenerated with a negative power penalty of
~1.5 dB practically back to the quality of the undistorted reference
signal | | Oct 30th | 
Roland Himmelhuber | Rolland got an Engineering degree in Technical Chemistry from the Georg-Simon
Ohm University of Applied Sciences in 2003, In Nurenberg. He worked for
Micro Resist technology an SME, in Berlin for 1 year as Scientist, than
for 2 years as a Product Manager. His main focus was on inorganic
organic hybrid materials for passive microoptical applications. Since he
joined Nasser's group as a Ph.D. student in 2006, he has worked on non linear
polymer optical devices including device design, material
development and synthesis, micro pattering and device characterization.
Right now his special interest is on the influence of material
conductivity and thickness on poling efficiency of electro optic active
guest host systems. This talk will give an overview over several methods for micro and nano
pattering. I will discribe the basic principle behind pattering
methods, talk about common applications and cover the basic chemistry
that happens during the different pattering processes. In large parts
the use of inorganic organic hybrid materials for pattering will be
discussed. | | | Sherry
Hoskinson
Director,
McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship
Co-director,
Business / Law Exchange
The
University of Arizona | Sherry
Hoskinson is the director of The University of Arizona's McGuire Center for
Entrepreneurship (formerly the Karl Eller Center for the Study of the Private
Market Economy), housing a nationally top-ranked entrepreneurship education
program including formal degree program in entrepreneurship. Areas of focus
have spanned full responsibility for design, planning, coordination, and
implementation of the center's nationally acclaimed academic programs,
including development of new venture/innovation teaching models for award
winning McGuire Entrepreneurship Program; highly visible outreach and
development, research and scholarship, entrepreneurship awareness and promotion
activities, and activities to advance the discipline of entrepreneurship across
local and national academic and business communities. Ms. Hoskinson serves or has served on the
Executive Boards of USASBE and NCEC, is an active member of the AACSB
Entrepreneurship Affinity Group; IdeaFunding / IdeaXchange;
The University of Arizona Industry Relations Workgroup; and has served on
numerous boards of organizations, non profits, and university based projects.
During her affiliation, the McGuire Center / Karl Eller Center has been the
recipient of numerous awards and national and global top rankings. | | Nov 13th |
Justin Paul | Lasers, lasers everywhere, but not a drop (Hg) to drink...yet He
will give a brief motivation behind laser-cooling of mercury atoms,
and the new exciting physics that can be accessed in the process. Also
he will describe the laser engineering we have been doing to create all
of our own, home-built laser sources. He will explain briefly the
connection between the two Jones labs: ultrafast optics and precision
spectroscopy. This strange "marriage" between two seemingly unrelated
disciplines has been made possible with the development of the
femtosecond frequency comb. Extending this comb from IR and visible
light into the Vacuum Ultraviolet regime could yield a new coherent
laser source to perform spectroscopy, materials science and fundamental
physics in a range previously inaccessible to lasers. | | | 
Anna-Britt Mahler | Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager (MSPI)
The Multiangle
SpectroPolarimetric Imager (MSPI) is a candidate instrument for the
Aerosol-Cloud-Ecosystem (ACE) mission. MSPI is a multiangle,
multispectral, high-accuracy polarization imager, and is envisioned to
contain multiple cameras pointed at different view angles, having
wavebands from the UV into the SWIR, and accurate polarimetric imaging
in a subset of the bands. To achieve a degree of linear polarization
(DOLP) uncertainty of 1%, we temporally modulate the linear
polarization component of the incident Stokes vector, which allows each
detector having an analyzer to measure relative proportions of Q, U,
and total irradiance, I. Our system uses tandem photoelectric
modulators (PEMs) within a reflective design. He will report on a
sample of interesting aspects of this project, including the achromatic
quarter wave retarders, the mirror coatings, and the polarization
calibration instrumentation (the partial polarization state generator). | | Nov 27th | Thanksgiving recess, No Community Speakers | | | Dec 4th | 
Jared Moore | Advances in Adaptive X-Ray Computed Tomography
Current medical imaging systems are designed to accommodate a wide
range of subjects. These systems select from a fixed set of operating
parameters and acquisition protocols prior to imaging a given subject.
As such, these systems are unlikely to be optimized in terms of
performing a specified imaging task for a specific subject.
My project has been the design, construction, calibration, and testing
of an “adaptive” x-ray computed tomography (CT) system. This system is
able to change its configuration in response to the subject being
imaged in order to provide a more ideal, “personalized” imaging
procedure for the subject. Various design features of this adaptive CT
system allow it to instantly negotiate the trade-offs inherent to this
particular imaging modality including resolution, field-of-view, and
radiation dose used. Due to this flexibility, the CT system is able to
take quick, preliminary image data from the subject, use this
preliminary data to adapt its configuration to best suit the subject,
and then perform a diagnostic scan.
I present on the unique design features, enabling technologies, and
special capabilities of the CT system as well as report on experiments
performed with the CT system demonstrating its ability to improve task
performance for a given subject while controlling radiation dose.
| | | 
Nathan Lewis | Biometrics is a term used to describe the measurement of physiological
features that are unique to an individual.
Currently, many features are used in biometrics, including but not limited
to, fingerprinting, facial recognition, retina scans, palm geometry, DNA, and
iris scanning. Recent testing has shown
that corneal topography may provide useful biometric data. In order to study corneal topography as a
biometric identifier, we have designed a new device based on similar clinically
available corneal topographers. Our
device will eliminate the need for an optometrist or ophthalmologist as an
operator and therefore has the potential to be utilized to grant personal
access to secure locations, along with other applications requiring personal
identification. We are currently
collecting data with the device to determine the effectiveness of both the
device, and the ability to repeatably and accurately identify test subjects
based on the shape of their corneas.
This presentation will discuss the system design, data analysis,
preliminary results, and the current and future goals of the project. | WINNERS -
Fall 2009
| Best Technical Talk
| 1. Stefano Young - Image Quality in Medical Imaging: Sending Your Message with Numbers
2. Justin Paul - Lasers, lasers everywhere, but not a drop (Hg) to drink...yet
2. Jared Moore - Advances in Adaptive X-Ray Computed Tomography | | | Most Entertaining Talk
| 1. Justin Paul - Lasers, lasers everywhere, but not a drop (Hg) to drink...yet
2. Roger Zalvadir - 20/20 is not enough
2. Hacene Chaouch |
Speakers for Spring 2009 | Feb 6th | Bob Breault | The Business of Optics Today and 100 New Technology Companies
Bob's presentation
| | Feb 20th |
Julian Sweet and Meredith Whitaker | CIAN
With the recent award of an NSF Engineering Research Center
grant, the OSC is now host to CIAN - The Center for Integrated Access
Networks. Along with nine other top research universities, we will
develop the next generation internet which will eventually provide more
than 100 Gbits/sec to the home.
Along with ample opportunities to perform research with 4
professors here at the OSC, the CIAN Student Leadership Council is
looking for enthusiastic students who want to play a part in shaping the
direction of this project. Opportunities for travel, leadership and
entrepreneurship abound, so come hear how to become involved with CIAN.
http://cian-erc.org/ | | March 27th |
Mir Salek | Multi-Modality MR and Optical Imaging of
Window Chambers.
Window chambers are support structures that
allow direct visual access to the tissue. The primary means of
investigating window chambers has been optical microscopes. Our group
for the first time has shown that MRI of window chambers is possible.
The two modalities could cross validate each other by simultaneous
imaging of the same tissue. In this talk, I briefly review MR imaging,
our imaging system, and the biological phenomena that we are
investigating in the tumor microenvironment using simultaneous
multimodality imaging. Mir's presentation will be followed by the
annual SPIE/OSA Student Chapter meeting. The meeting is open to members
and non-members alike. Anyone who arrives wearing an OSC t-shirt (on
sale in the Academic office for $12 or 2 for $20, cash only) will
receive a prize.
| | April 10th |
Dr. Irving Bigiol
Boston University Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Physics, and Medicine
| Elastic Light Scattering Spectroscopy for the Detection of Pre-Cancer
Optical spectroscopy mediated by fiber-optic probes can be used to
perform noninvasive, or minimally-invasive, real-time assessment of
tissue pathology in-situ. The method of elastic-scattering spectroscopy
(ESS) is sensitive to the sub-cellular architectural changes, such as
nuclear grade and nuclear to cytoplasm ratio, mitochondrial size and
density, etc., which correlate with features used by pathologists when
performing histological assessment. The ESS method senses those
morphology changes without actually imaging the microscopic structure.
Clinical demonstrations of ESS have been conducted in a variety of
organ sites, with promising results, and larger-scale clinical studies
are now ongoing. We have recently developed an analytical model that
extracts, from the ESS spectra, the underlying physical correlates of
the tissue relating to disease.
| | April 24th |
Michael Runkel
Christopher Stolz
| National Ignition
Facility: The Worlds Largest Optical System.
The National Ignition Facility (NIF), a 192-beam fusion laser at the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was completed in January 2009
and demonstrated 1MJ of 351 nm laser light to target chamber center in
March 2009. This facility was constructed to achieve fusion ignition in
a quest for determining a pathway to fusion energy. The facility
contains 7,456 meter-scale optics for amplification, beam steering,
vacuum barriers, focusing, polarization rotation, and wavelength
conversion. A multiphase program was put in place to increase the
monthly optical manufacturing rate by up to 20× while simultaneously
reducing cost by up to 3× through a sub-scale development, full-scale
facilitization, and a pilot production phase. In order to manufacture
the high quality optics at desired manufacturing rate of over 100
precision optics per month, new more deterministic advanced fabrication
technologies had to be employed over those used to manufacture previous
fusion lasers.
https://lasers.llnl.gov/ |
Speakers for Fall 2008
Sept 5th
| Michael Kudenov
| |
| Pierre-Alexandre Blanche, Ph.D
| | | Sept 19th | Russell Chipman, Ph.D. | | | | Eduardo Bendek | | Oct 3rd
| Sheng Yuan
| The Primary Aberration Coefficients of Cross-cylindrical Anamorphic Optical Systems
An
anamorphic system is an imaging system contains double curvature
surfaces, which have two mutually perpendicular planes of symmetry.
Example of existing anamorphic system is a cross-cylindrical anamorphic
system which can map a square object field into a rectangular image
field. For different types of anamorphic systems, the primary
aberration coefficients are different. However, method of calculating
the actually primary aberration coefficients formulas for different
types of anamorphic systems remains a challenge for geometrical optics
research.
I will speak about our development of a method of
calculating the primary aberration coefficients for cross-cylindrical
anamorphic systems and we found all sixteen anamorphic primary
aberration coefficients, in a form parallel to the Seidel aberrations.
| | | Robert Norwood, Ph.D. | Optical polymer nanocomposites
The
talk will discuss a new class of materials, polymer nanocomposites,
that take advantage of advances in nanoparticle technology, optical
polymers, and processing techniques. It will cover fundamental aspects
such as effective medium theory and composite refractive index tuning,
as well as recent advances in our laboratory in magneto-optical
nanoparticle composites. | Oct 17th
| Jenny Flynn
Marie-Claire Strang
| Charitable Grantseeking: An Introduction
Jenny Flynn and Marie-Claire Strang of the UA Foundation's GIFT Center
will present "Charitable Grantseeking: An Introduction." This succinct
overview of private grants, a lesser-known source of funding for many in
the university community, will focus on available resources, key
elements for working with private grantmakers, and tips for success. | | | Tyler Neely | Atom Optics in Flatland: Turbulence at the Intersection of Classical and Quantum Physics
My
talk will focus on experimental developments in the Bose Einstein
Condensate (BEC) lab here at the College of Optical Science. I'll
briefly review what a BEC is, and what we do to make these ultracold
trapped gases. Then I'll describe how we use laser light to take a
normally 3-D BEC and push it towards a flat 2-D regime. With further
manipulation from optical and magnetic fields, we've begun to explore
the emergence of highly turbulent states of the trapped gas. This
research
gives us a unique opportunity to study complicated classical and
superfluid turbulence dynamics in an accessible and theoretically
tractable system. Such studies will have potentially broad impact across a variety of physical disciplines. | Oct 31st
| Tim Grabowski | FFRDCs, 'Real-World' Academia?
This
talk will focus on the aspects of working for a Federally Funded
Research and Development Center whose primary role is to support our
nation's military space programs.*
How The Aerospace Corporation fulfills this
role.
*Who our main 'customers' are and their
programs.
*
Key differences between FFRDCs and defense contractors/government
agencies. * Work environment/benefits. The
second part of this talk will focus on some of the unclassified
programs that I have been involved in during the past six years while
at The Aerospace Corporation. Two programs in particular that I will
discuss deal with the collection and analysis of hyperspectral IR data.
One is the Spatially Enhanced Broadband Array Spectrograph System
(SEBASS), an airborne MWIR/LWIR 256 channel LHe cooled spectrometer and
the other is a Block M100 LWIR 181 channel FTIR spectrometer, a ground
based single pixel instrument integrated into a raster scanning mirror
assembly. | | | Dr. John Koshel | Illumination Engineering
Lit-appearance
modeling is the ability to accurately visualize the appearance of an
illumination system prior to time-consuming and expensive fabrication.
I will display three methods of lit-appearance modeling: spot diagrams,
pupil sampling, and luminance. These methods are being developed in a
number of software analysis codes, which are tools of choice for
illumination engineers. I will show examples from four software tools,
including lightpipes, reflectors, room scenes, driving scenes, and a
piece of art "from the eyes of the OpSci community."This
talk provides an introduction to the rapidly growing field of
illumination engineering. In the Spring 2009 semester, I will be
teaching a 2-credit, project-based course on Illumination Engineering
for both Undergraduates and Graduates. The goal of the course is to
teach you the basic principles of illumination optics, while also
instructing you how to use the currently available design tools.
Contact jkoshel@optics.arizona.edu for more information about this
course. | Nov 14th
| Stephen O'Neil | Stephen will be speaking about patents in the scientific community as well as intellectual property and its implications. Powerpoint slides from Stephen's presentation |
|
|
