2021 - 2022 Colloquium Archive

Abigail Wilson

Here I give an overview of corneal biomechanics and discuss the main clinical challenges, the aims of our research, and the optical techniques we have been using so far alongside the methods we wish to incorporate in the future to provide us with the information we need to deliver advanced diagnosis and safe and optimised treatment of corneal disease and refractive error.

Meredith Kupinski

Polarization offers an exciting future in Imaging Science and Optical Engineering because system performance can often be substantially improved when polarization effects are exploited and polarization-sensitive measurements are utilized. Formulating tractable system-performance optimizations to design polarization imaging systems, perform detection/classification tasks, and configure data-acquisition protocols are the foundation of my research. In this talk, I will begin with the engineering design, calibration and validation, and high-altitude deployment of a spectrally-resolved thermal IR polarimeter for atmospheric science.

Andrea Armani

In recent work, we combined conventional top-down fabrication methods with bottom-up techniques (surface chemistry and self-assembly methods) to develop on-chip optical devices that incorporate NLO optical small molecules and optically-triggerable molecules. These hybrid systems provide access to optical behavior and performance not attainable with conventional material systems. In this seminar, I will discuss a couple examples of NLO small molecule integrated resonators, including Raman lasers and all optically-switchable devices.​

Thomas Allison

In this talk, I will discuss both the optical science behind these recent breakthroughs in tr-ARPES and recent results from my lab regarding graphene and monolayer WS2, 2D materials being used now in optoelectronic devices. Direct visualization of momentum-space wave functions enables the study of light-matter interaction with an unprecedented level of detail, with new discoveries unseen in previous measurements.

Gregory Forcherio

Naval operations in visually-degraded environments requires new approaches to the design of infrared electro-optic imagers, with particular emphasis on economical materials and/or architectures that potentiate room temperature operation with access to alternative sensing modalities and/or embedded processing. This talk with overview disruptive efforts at Crane to (i) develop smarter optics (e.g., with dielectric metasurfaces), (ii) search for Si-compatible focal plane array (FPA) materials for uncooled mid-wave sensing (e.g., with doped CdO or SiGeSn), and (iii) build multi-physics modeling & simulation infrastructure for rapid virtual prototyping and assessment of their imaging performance. Opportunities for faculty and student engagement with the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane will be highlighted.