Optical Imaging Research Lab0ratory

About us

Mission

The mission of OIRL is the integration of research and education to stimulate interest in Optical Engineering, providing students and Optics community with a unique set of skills for designing and building the future technologies in Optics and Photonics.

Goals

To advance the fundamental science and engineering in imaging and photonics instrumentation for biological and biomedical applications
To transition research outcomes and outputs to commercial products and systems
To sustain robust collaborations with leading academic institutions, government agencies, and companies to achieve the OIRL’s scientific and technological goals
To increase knowledge in Optical Engineering, enhancing career opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, including underrepresented students
To improved public STEM outreach.

Principal research areas

Multimodal imaging platforms
Low-cost imaging systems
Automatic reconstruction algorithms
Healthcare applications of optical imaging

What's new?

Dr. Doblas has been invited to the Frontiers in Optical Metrology at the EOSAM 2026 conference, Tampere (Finland), August 25, 2026.

The OIRL lab continues to grow! This summer '26, OIRL welcomes 4 undergraduate researchers and 4 graduate researchers!

Energetiq Technology continues to support OIRL through a second-year research contract of $78,682.

OIRL team goes to 2026 SPIE Defense + Security, presenting an invited talk and 3 research posters.

Congratulations to our OIRL undergraduate students, Christopher Pereira and Craig Belanger for winning, respectively, the First Place and Second Place for their research posters in the 2026 Sigma Xi Undergraduate Poster Competition, April 22 & 23, 2026.

Dr. Doblas receives $406k from the National Science Foundation to develop next-gen underwater lensless microscopy

About Optical Engineering

Optical Engineering is the field of study that focuses on the development and applications of optics and photonics. Optical Engineering includes:

Imaging components, systems, and processing.
Optical instrumentation, techniques, and measurement.
Optical design and engineering.
Lasers, fiber optics, and communications.
Optical materials, photonic devices, and sensors.

Optical Engineers may be involved in anything from advanced research on optical properties to the development and commercialization of the optical product. Job opportunities in the industry include defense, medical technology, clean energy, nanotechnology, automotive manufacturing, electronics, communications, entertainment, computers, and other consumer products.

According to research by Economic Modeling Specialists Intl., there were 147,913 annual job openings in 2019 with 7.9% projected growth over the next 10 years. Optical engineer's median salary is $96,000, reaching $155k for experienced senior workers. More interestingly, as the COV-19 pandemic spreads across the world, optics and photonics technologies have provided rapid preliminary screening of potentially infected individuals, more accurate molecular diagnosis, and reliable monitoring of disease progression*.

Now more than ever, the need for optics and photonics technologies to make significant contributions to global health is clear. The long-term OIRL goal is the contribution to the creation of a climate that attracts talented people of all races, genders, and nationalities to advance knowledge in imaging instrumentation.

*T. M. Baer and C. E. Baer, "Optics and the COVID-19 Pandemic," Optics & Photonics News May (2020).