Watt's Up

College of Optical Sciences News for February 28, 2008

Today's Colloquium

3:30 p.m.  Meinel 307

David Brady will present Snapshot Spectral Imaging, Focal Plane Interferometry and Compressive Imaging.  Hong Hua is the host.  Abstract:  This talk describes coded aperture snapshot spectral imaging (CASSI) systems. CASSI systems rely on static aperture masks and decompressive data cube inference algorithms. We consider extensions of CASSI to alternative physical codes using interferometers or filters and we discuss application of snapshot spectral imaging to coherence imaging for 3D imaging and imaging through turbulence.   Bio:  David Brady is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University, where he leads the Duke Imaging and Spectroscopy Program, www.disp.duke.edu  Professor Brady graduated from Caltech in 1990 and was on the faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1990-2001, when he moved to Duke to become the founding director of the Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics. He specializes in computational optical imaging and spectroscopy, with a recent focus on snapshot spectral imaging systems using compressive sampling and nonlinear signal inference, multiaperture imaging systems and on spatial coherence sensing.

Special Seminar on March 3

Noon.  Meinel 654

Professor Dr. E. L. Ivchenko, A. F. Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, will present Resonant Photonic Crystals and Quasicrystals.  Galina Khitrova is the host.  1. Introduction. Structures with periodically modulated dielectric permeability allowing for Bragg diffraction of light: 1D, 2D and 3D photonic crystals.  2. Multiple quantum wells (QWs) as a model resonant 1D photonic crystal. Dispersion equation for exciton polaritons in QW periodic structures. Resonant Bragg and close-to-Bragg QW structures in the absence and presence of dielectric constant mismatch.  3. Optical reflection, transmission and absorption spectra of a finite number of equidistant QWs. Distribution of eigen frequencies in the complex frequency plane for exciton-polariton modes in a finite periodical QW structure. Superradiant mode in the resonant Bragg structure.  4. Resonant Fibonacci photonic quasicrystals: MQWs with inter-well spacing arranged in the Fibonacci sequence. Analogue of the resonant Bragg condition for the Fibonacci QW chain.  5. Extension of the theory to resonant 3D and 2D photonic crystals represented by a periodic array of semiconductor or superconductor spheres or cylinders in a uniform dielectric matrix. The Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker method of calculation. The specular reflection of light from a two-dimensional photonic crystal enhanced by the diffraction and internal reflection.

Next Week's Colloquium

3:30 p.m.  Meinel 307

Our own Poul Jessen will present Quantum Control of Atomic Spins.  Stanley Pau is the host.  Abstract:  Laboratory techniques to manipulate and observe ultracold atoms make these a superb platform on which to develop and test new ideas in quantum control and measurement. I will discuss a series of recent experiments in which we use laser light and magnetic fields to drive non-trivial quantum dynamics of a large spin-angular momentum associated with an atomic hyperfine ground state. The resulting nonlinear spin Hamiltonian is sufficiently general to achieve universal quantum control over the 2F+1 dimensional state space, and allows us to generate arbitrary spin states and perform a full quantum state reconstruction of the result. We have implemented and verified time optimal controls to generate a broad variety of spin states, as well as an adiabatic scheme to generate spin-squeezed states for metrology. Most recently we have used our control and measurement tools to realize a popular paradigm for quantum chaos known as the kicked top. Direct observation of the phase space dynamics of this system has given us an unprecedented look at quantum/classical correspondence. In the future we hope to extend our toolbox for control and measurement of individual atoms and to apply it also to collective spins. Applications include quantum metrology, quantum information processing and simulations of quantum manybody physics.

UA to Award Honorary Doctorate to OSC's Nicolaas Bloembergen

We've just received word that UA's Faculty Senate has voted to award Nicolaas Bloembergen the honorary degree of Doctor of Science in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of optics and his support to the College of Optical Sciences.

The University of Arizona confers honorary degrees during Commencement ceremonies in May and December and plans to award Professor Bloembergen's degree at the May 17 Commencement.

Dr. Bloembergen was awarded a Nobel Prize for his contributions to the field of nonlinear optics and to the development of laser spectroscopy. His research has included nuclear and electronic magnetic resonance, solid state masers and lasers, and nonlinear optics and spectroscopy. His work on proton spin relaxation times in water and aqueous solutions carried out in 1946 and 1947 under the guidance of his PhD thesis advisor, Edward M. Purcell, later became the basis for the medical diagnostic technique of magnetic resonance imaging: MRI.

Together with his co-workers, Dr. Bloembergen developed a rigorous theory of nonlinear polarizability, the extension of Maxwell’s equations to include nonlinear source terms and the interaction of multiple waves in the bulk and at the boundaries of nonlinear media. This latter work let to the extension of the laws of reflection and refraction. 

Dr. Bloembergen is a recipient of the Lorentz Medal of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences in 1978, the National Medal of Science, awarded by the President of the United States in 1974, the Medal of Honor of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and the Frederick Ives Medal of the Optical Society of America. He is a member of various Academies in the United States and abroad and served as president of the American Physical Society in 1991.

He came to Optical Sciences in 2001 after more than 40 years at Harvard University.

In addition to Dr. Bloembergen, two other Nobel Laureates are on OSC's faculty:  Professor Emeritus Willis E. Lamb and Adjunct Professor Roy J. Glauber.

We Welcome a New Industrial Affiliate

Please join us in welcoming Hutchinson Technology into our Industrial Affiliate family.  Hutchinson Technology designs and manufactures suspension assemblies for hard disk drives. Suspension assemblies, the precise metal springs that hold a disk drive's recording head at microscopic distances above the drive's disks, are critical to the operation of the disk drive.  Hutchinson estimates that they manufacture the majority of the worldwide supply of suspension assemblies for all sizes of disk drives produced by all of the major disk drive makers.

Headquartered in Hutchinson, Minnesota, the company has manufacturing facilities located in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Plymouth, Minnesota, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  Operations are supported by service offices in Singapore, China, Japan, and the Netherlands.
 

Hutchinson Technology has joined our Affiliates Program at the leadership Partners level.  For more information about Hutchinson Technology, please visit www.htch.com  If you're interested in employment with Hutchinson, please scroll down this page a bit to read their ad for an Optical Engineer or visit their booth at Monday evening's Tabletop Showcase at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel.

 

Our 29th Annual Industrial Affiliates Workshop Begins on Monday   This promises to be a banner year for our annual gathering of our Industrial Affiliate partners:  we are expecting more than 80 guests from 35 companies.  The Workshop begins on Monday evening with a new event:  a tabletop showcase at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel.  The formal Workshop events begin on Tuesday morning and conclude right after lunch on Wednesday afternoon.  This year, our list of special events includes faculty and student research presentations, a look at our Seniors' optical design projects, laboratory visits, a special presentation by OSC alumnus Peter Smith, an evening mixer and poster session, a panel discussion, and as always, the good company of our friends and colleagues.   OSC students, faculty members, and staff, you are all invited to meet our guests and join them for the Workshop events.  We hope to see you there!   The mission of our Industrial Affiliates program is to provide a venue for optics corporations and organizations to partner with us in educating the next generation of optical scientists and optical engineers.  The program helps bridge the gap between education and the specific needs of industries that require employees with comprehensive skills and abilities in optical sciences.  At present, more than 40 corporations and organizations are affiliated with us and we have, at one time or another, served hundreds of individuals and corporations with their optics-related challenges.   if you would like more information about the Industrial Affiliates program or this year's participants and events, please visit http://www.optics.arizona.edu/Affiliates/Workshop.htm   Workshop Agenda Monday, March 3 4:00 - 7:30 p.m. Affiliates Table Top Showcase  List of exhibitors Four Points Sheraton Hotel     Tuesday, March 4  7:45 a.m. Coffee, Registration and Group Photo Lobby 8:30 a.m. Welcome 307   Jim Wyant, Dean Steve McCarthy, VP External Relations Carl Maes, Associate Dean, Academics 9:00 a.m. Faculty and Student Presentations 307   Tom Milster:  The UA Maskless Lithography Tool Jun Zhang:  Extreme Numerical Aperture Paula Smith:  Breakthroughs in Characterizing Anistropic Films Meredith Aronson and Scott Tyo:  Capstone Program Overview 10:15 a.m. Coffee Break Lobby 10:30 a.m. Senior Optical Design Project Presentations 307 11:30 a.m. Faculty Presentations 307   Scott Tyo:  Advanced Infrared Remote Sensing Methods Stanley Pau:  Colloquium Overview   Noon Affiliates Lunch   1:00 p.m. Faculty and Student Presentations 307   Masud Mansuripur:  Momentum of Light in Dielectric Media: Applications iin Optical Trapping and Binding Stacie Hvisc:  Optical Testing and Alignment for Large Telescopes Brian Miller:  CCD-Based Gamma-Ray Detectors 2:15 p.m. Coffee Break Lobby 2:30 p.m. Laboratory Visits:  List of open labs 4:00 p.m. Special Presentation 307   Peter Smith:  UA Optics Goes to Mars 5:00 p.m. Mixer and Poster Session  List of posters UA Hall of Champions 6:30 p.m. No organized dinner event       Wednesday, March 5 8:00 a.m. Coffee Lobby 8:30 a.m. Faculty and Student Presentations 307   Brian Anderson:  Quantum Group Overview Souma Chaudhury:  Quantum Control of Atomic Spins with Light Robin Richards:  UA Office of Technology Transfer-Overview   9:30 a.m.   Concurrent Sessions   Panel Discussion:  Carl Maes, Moderator Do You Have the Right Stuff?  The Corporate Hiring Process 307 Fabrication Capabilities Presentation: Jim Burge and Marty Valente Opportunities in Optomechanical Engineering   305 10:30 a.m. Coffee Break 8th Floor 10:45 a.m. Program Review 8th Floor   Jim Wyant:  Industrial Affiliates Carl Maes:  Academic Programs/Outreach Robert Edmund:  Development Board/Giving Summary Noon Affiliates Lunch   1:00 p.m. End of Formal Workshop 1:30 p.m. Development Board Meeting 8th Floor     For more information or to join our Industrial Affiliates, please contact Mr. Will Rivera  520-626-8754 or wrivera@optics.arizona.edu

Wanted:  Volunteer Photographers to Cover the Affiliates Workshop

From Cathy Alexander.  The Affiliates Workshop is a great opportunity for us to take many, many photos of our guests, our students and faculty, our spiffed-up labs, and all of the events and presentations that comprise our Workshop -- so if anyone has a camera and would like to volunteer to take photographs, I would be very appreciative.  Any photos will be welcome, but in particular, I hope that someone will be able to cover one or more of the following agenda items:

• Tabletop Showcase on Monday evening at the Sheraton Four Points.

• Mixer and Poster Session on Tuesday evening at UA's Hall of Champions.

• Some or all of the open labs on Monday afternoon from 2:30 to 4:00.

If you can take some pictures and are willing to share copies with OSC, please contact Cathy Alexander at cathy.alexander@optics.arizona.edu or 621-4479.

 

OSC Calendar   February 28 OSC Sports Friday   March 3 - 5 Industrial Affiliates Workshop   March 3 Special Seminar   March 6 OSC Colloquium   March 7 OSC Sports Friday OSC Community Speakers   March 17 - 21 Spring Break   March 17 - 21 CGH Workshop

Happy Birthday Best Wishes for a Wonderful Year   March 4 Stanley Pau (spau@optics.arizona.edu) Melissa Zaverton (zaverton@email.arizona.edu)   March 5 Richard Fields (rfields@email.arizona.edu) Young Kim (yskim@optics.arizona.edu)   March 7 Brian Daugherty (bdaugherty@optics.arizona.edu) Robert Martin (rob.martin@lmco.com) Tom Milster (milster@Arizona.EDU)   March 8 Khawlah Al Yahyaei (kayahyaei@optics.arizona.edu) Andrew Bean (abean@email.arizona.edu) Jess Kautz (jkautz@optics.arizona.edu)   March 9 Scott Benjamin (scott.benjamin@optics.Arizona.EDU)

On Campus

February 28

Biomedical Engineering Seminar.  1:00 p.m.  MRB 102.  Michael L. Smith, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, will present The Changing Face of the Extracellular Matrix Under Force: Role of Fibronectin in Mechanotransduction.

February 28

Particle and Nuclear Theory Seminar.  3:30 p.m.  PAS 218.   Thomas Mehen will present New Applications of Non-Relativistic EFT's: X(3872) and Trapped Cold Atoms.

February 29

Physics Colloquium:  3:00 p.m. PAS 220.  Thomas Mehen will present Effective Field Theories for Strongly Interacting Particles: From Charmed Hadrons to Cold Atoms.

March 6

Distinguished Alumni Lecture Series.  12:30 p.m.  Gould-Simpson 1027.  Carrene Plummer, PSM, BioVigilant Systems, Inc. will present From Biology to Industrial Vigilance; Careers in Quality Assurance at the Interface of Biotech and Optics.

Other Optics Employment Opportunities

Please visit our optics employment Web site at

http://www.optics.arizona.edu/employment/default.htm

Senior Vision Engineer.  Intuitive Surgical.  Department:  Vision Engineering.  Reports to: Director, Vision Engineering.  Intuitive Surgical, Inc. develops computer-enhanced minimally invasive surgery systems that use proprietary electronics, advanced mechanics, and enhanced visualization to greatly improve surgical technique and take surgical precision far beyond what is possible today.  Primary Function of Position:  The da Vinci® Surgical system includes six manipulator arms with a total of 41 degrees of freedom, along with a stereo endoscope and 3D video display, with over 700 installations worldwide.  Surgeons use it to perform tens of thousands of minimally invasive surgeries per year.  da Vinci represents an outstanding platform for the development and application of new technologies to surgery. This position offers an opportunity for a candidate with exceptional design and project management skills to be responsible for Intuitive’s next generation of vision systems, including cameras and endoscopes.  A successful candidate will be equally comfortable leading architecture development, designing optical subsystems, managing third-party designers and OEM vendors, and managing transfer to production.  He or she must excel in a high-energy team, must have excellent communication skills and must be able to balance independent production of results with the need to collaborate during planning, system integration, and testing of larger projects. This engineer will work closely with other members of the Vision Group and several other product development groups, as well as Clinical Engineering, Regulatory, Quality, and Production teams.  Roles and Responsibilities:  This position has responsibility and authority for developing vision systems for the da Vinci platform, including:  Working with clinical and engineering teams within Intuitive to set design requirements for vision system designs.  Validating third party endoscope, camera, and display designs and making design modifications to those designs using optical CAD software such as Zemax and mechanical CAD software such as Solidworks or Pro-E.  Project management of vision system projects from conception through manufacturing transfer, using proven project management skills.  Shepherding vision system projects through the design control process (design reviews, risk analysis, etc.), and support New Product Introduction personnel in initial builds (procurement, assembly, and troubleshooting).  An exceptional candidate will also have the ability to:  Become the acknowledged in-house expert for cameras and endoscopes, able to develop next-generation designs and assist with production difficulties involving cameras, endoscopes, and other vision system components.  Conduct detailed prototype design, test, and iteration - potentially including electronics hardware, firmware and/or software processing.  Champion novel new system-level and software features through the product development process.  Act as a consulting engineer for other groups with optical system design needs.  Seek out, evaluate, and select industrial partners possessing specific visual systems expertise.  Skill/Job Requirements: Competency Requirements: (Competency is based on: education, training, skills and experience.).  In order to adequately perform the responsibilities of this position the individual must have:  A Bachelors’ Degree in mechanical engineering, physics, optics, electrical engineering, similar discipline or commensurate experience; Masters’ preferred.  Demonstrated exceptional proficiency at robust, professional optics and vision system designs.  Five to eight (5-8) years or more of industrial experience strongly preferred, though a truly exceptional candidate with less experience could be considered.  Comfortable making complex, multidisciplinary tradeoff recommendations in the face of technical uncertainty.  Demonstrated ability to inspire and lead other engineers by technical example.  A passion for creating robust and reliable products.  Proficiency in all phases of the development lifecycle including design, implementation, verification, validations, and transfer.  Demonstrated history of products reaching the marketplace.  Experience selecting and managing OEM partners.  Sufficient visual acuity to see surgical images.  Ability to occasionally roll medical equipment distances of approximately 100 feet from lab to lab.  Frequent connection and disconnection of video cables and other connectors is required.  Some travel required.  Resumes may be submitted to www.intuitivesurgical.com 

Optical Engineer/Software Testing.  Agency Listing.  Contact: Ron Powers @ 951-676-8715 in California for questions and resume submission.  Description:  We have an opening for a full time position as an Optical Engineer/Software Testing. The work involves using a wide variety of optical system models, planning and conducting manual testing of new and existing features. My client develops, markets and supports state-of-the-art optical CAD/CAE programs for the layout, design and analysis of optical systems.  The applicant should have skills in the use of advanced optical design tools, have an interest in optical design and optical system modeling, have an interest in software development, be able to understand optical engineering issues associated with new and advancing technology applications, and solve problems accurately, quickly, and effectively. The applicant should be able to interface equally well with a staff of Software Development Engineers, Optical Design Engineers, as well as development managers in a team-oriented environment. The successful candidate will contribute to the quality of my client’s products.  Primary responsibilities of the position include, but are not limited to:  Creation and/or use of optical models for the purpose of optical domain testing new and existing features against user requirements.  Manually testing of Client’s software products  and identifying problems in any feature, whether it is related to optical computation or not.  Developing test plans.  Detecting, submitting and updating defect reports in an on-line database.  The applicant must become familiar with the software development process and the software development life cycle. He/she will be supporting all software development at the firm.  The applicant should possess the following qualifications:  A Bachelors, Masters, or Ph.D. degree in a technical discipline (Optics, Optical Sciences, Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, Astronomy).  Aptitude and interest in applied development of optical systems.  Experience in advanced optical design tools with the ability to understand and use their products.  Ability to understand customer requirements and expectations of a commercial scientific software package.  Strong problem solving, troubleshooting and organizational skills.  Demonstrated strong verbal and written communication skills.  Willingness to learn established and accepted software testing techniques.  Experience using optical design tools and/or CAD software are pluses.  Interact with some of the most talented engineers in the optics field both inside the company and in the customer community. Impact the development of Client’s software. My client is a world class, high tech optical software and optical engineering services company with an international client base and three branch offices. My client is in southern CA and was founded in 1963 by the current Chairman. The company is privately held and employee owned and is an equal opportunity employer with over 85 employees (including over 50 engineers). The firm provides excellent employee benefits including medical insurance, an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), and a 401k plan.  Contact: Ron Powers @ 951-676-8715 in California for questions and resume submission.

Software Test Engineer.  Agency Listing.  Contact: Ron Powers @ 951-676-8715 in California for questions and resume submission.  Description:  My client  has an opening for a Software Test Engineer.  This is a full-time position.  The work involves manual testing, maintaining suites of automated test cases, and product release testing across multiple hardware platforms. We develop, market and support state-of-the-art optical CAD/CAE programs for the layout, design and analysis of lens systems.  This applicant must have experience with Windows and Unix environments and must be comfortable maintaining operating systems used for testing. The applicant should be able to interface equally well with a staff of Software Development Engineers, Computer Systems Engineers as well as development managers in a team-oriented environment.  The successful candidate will contribute to the quality of our products. Primary responsibilities of the position include, but are not limited to: • Manually testing of corporate software products  • Writing test plans and matrices  • Assessing a GUI for the purpose of creating and documenting manual test scenarios  • Maintenance of the automated test case suites, including adding new tests, executing tests, and verifying test results  • Submitting and maintaining defect reports in an on-line database  The applicant must be familiar with the software development process, the software development life cycle and software testing methodologies. He/she will be supporting all software development of the corporation.  Requirements of the position:  • Bachelors degree in a technical discipline (Physics, Math, Engineering)  • 2 + years experience in software testing  • Strong knowledge of software testing concepts and methodologies  • Proven record in writing and executing software test plans  • Ability to plan and implement testing from the requirements stage to shipment
• Ability to work in a testing team environment to accomplish group goals  • Strong problem solving, troubleshooting and organizational skills  • Strong verbal and written communication skills  • Ability to interface with a team of software developers with diverse technical backgrounds  • Experience using Windows and Unix operating systems  • Knowledge of software programming concepts  • A proven record of accomplishment with excellent references  • Ability to use additional tools and utilities, such as file comparison, Ghost, Install Analyzer, and source control (ClearCase) is a plus  • Experience using CAD software and/or SolidWorks is a plus.  My client is a world class, high tech optical software and optical engineering services company with an international client base and three branch offices. The firm is headquartered in southern CA and was founded in 1963 by the current Chairman. We are an equal opportunity employer with over 85 employees (including over 50 engineers).  We provide excellent company benefits including medical insurance, an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), and a 401(k) plan.  Contact: Ron Powers @ 951-676-8715 in California for questions and resume submission.

Optical Engineers.  Agency Listing.  Vatix staffing is looking for several candidates to become key members of the Optical Engineering team with our client in Longmont that is involved in developing revolutionary holographic storage products.  Responsibilities include conceptual and detailed optical analysis and design, Optical Engineering, Testing, Managing Vendor Interactions, and transitioning products to high volume manufacturing.  Skills/Experience:  • > 7 years product development experience, preferably with established track record of products in volume manufacturing • Demonstrated proficiency using with optical design software tools, preferably Zemax • Hands on experience in precision alignment of optical assemblies • Strong analytical and practical knowledge of geometrical and physical optics, free space optics, imaging optics, and optical system design • Expert user of common optical metrology equipment (wave front sensors, interferometers, power meters) • Solid understanding of statistical methods and design of experiments • Proven track record of transitioning products with optical manufacturing sensitivities to volume manufacturing • Ability and experience working in cross functional product development teams • Excellent verbal and written communication skills • Microsoft Office.  Education: Degree in Optical Engineering or a related field (advanced degree preferred). Carrie Adams, Recruiting Manager, Vatix Staffing.  www.vatix.com  720-984-9308

cathy.alexander@optics.arizona.edu