New teaching methods reach geographically dispersed students with advances in Distance Education. Capabilities
include a new "Hybrid" teaching method with an instructor in a classroom and a live WebEx simulcast for remote
students. Our Distance Education Geometric and Physical Optics courses include Hands-On Optics experiments. Low
cost laboratory kits have been developed and YouTube type video recordings of the instructor using these tools guide the
students through their labs. A weekly "Office Hour" has been developed using WebEx and a Live Webcam the instructor
uses to display his live writings from his notebook for answering students' questions.
A universal, extended dynamic range novel optical inspection system for aspheric optical components and optics that are
not easily inspected with conventional interferometry is presented. Modern optical design and manufacturing procedures
have begun using such components more and more in routine applications to improve optical system capability.
Inspection tools required for these types of optical components have lagged the capability to manufacture them. In this
paper unique measurement procedures employing digital holography combined with a spatial light modulator are
discussed for complex shapes such as aspheres and mandrels.
New generations of infrared transmitting optical domes are currently being developed to improve the drag, range, speed,
and payload capabilities of missiles. Traditionally, these domes have been hemispheres, which can be well characterized
with conventional optical interferometers. These interferometers, however, are not generally well-suited to the new
shapes, such as tangent ogives, because the transmitted and reflected wavefronts can differ by many wavelengths from
the planar or spherical wavefronts that are normally used as a reference. In this paper, we present an innovative
technique to characterize unconventional optical components such as aspheric domes, mirrors, and freeform optics. The
measurements are based on an innovative instrument that combines an instantaneous digital phase-shifting infrared
interferometer with a dynamic spatial light modulator that extends the range of the interferometer. The goal of the
measurement is to determine the wavefront error, within a small fraction of a wavelength, caused by the deviation of the
optical component from a perfect geometrical shape of any type (i.e. not spherical). Experimental results are presented
from several infrared components.
Analysis that includes physical optics with diffraction, polarization, and aberration, as well as geometrical optics is used to understand tolerancing of SIL systems. Irradiance distributions inside a simple substrate are explored as the distance between the objective lens and SIL and the radius of curvature of the SIL are varied. Gap-induced aberration is included in the analysis. Irradiance distributions inside a phase-change recording medium are explored versus air gap heights and the thickness of the recording layer in a magneto-optical medium.
High numerical aperture vector diffraction theory is used to analyze a near field optical system using a solid immersion lens. The amplitude and phase of the transmitted light through the system changes as a function of the air gap height as well as indices of refraction, incident angle, etc. We call these `amplitude apodization' and `phase apodization'. The characteristics of those are done using supergaussian form. The effects of amplitude and phase apodization on irradiance are investigated for various index of refraction and air gap height.
KEYWORDS: Optical recording, Objectives, Refractive index, Near field scanning optical microscopy, Near field optics, Head, Glasses, Liquids, Diffraction, Semiconductor lasers
The data density ofthe optical recording medium depends on the focused beam spot size, which is limited by diffraction. The beam spot size can be reduced by using a shorter wavelength light source or a larger NA objective lens. Recently, near-field optical techniques using evanescent light, have been developed to overcome the diffraction limit of far-field optics.
KEYWORDS: Optical recording, Head, Solids, Near field optics, Glasses, Objectives, Semiconductor lasers, Light sources, Near field scanning optical microscopy, Crystals
A near-field optical recording technique using a solid immersion lens (SIL) and a red semiconductor laser light source ((lambda) equals 650 nm) has been applied to the phase change optical recording. We have recorded and erased amorphous marks of 300 nm in diameter using a hemisphere SIL (n equals 1.84, designed effective NA equals 1.1).
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