Description: |
This course is designed to give engineers practical information about how optical components (lenses) are made and tested, and provide basic tools to create cost-effective optical system designs. Topics covered include optical material properties, grinding, polishing, CNC programming for optical fabrication, modern fabrication technologies, surface testing and fabrication tolerances. We will discuss case studies of challenging fabrication projects for leading-edge optical systems. The accompanying lab will use the facilities of the Hopkins Center fabrication and metrology labs to introduce polishing and metrology techniques. Lab exercises will include hands-on experiments, such as exploring the properties of optical materials, measuring the removal function of a sub-aperture polishing and grinding machines, and characterizing the surface form and texture of polished surfaces. Prerequisites: Students must in their Sophomore, Junior, or Senior year. Not for first-year undergraduates. |