Graduating students and their loved ones, along with Wyant College staff and faculty, gathered on Friday, Dec. 16 to celebrate the Wyant College of Optical Sciences' Winter Commencement. The intimate ceremony was followed by a light spread and cake in the Meinel 3rd floor lobby. 

Arvind Shankar Marathay, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Optical Sciences, passed away Saturday, December 3, 2022 at 88 years old. A Celebration of Life service, held by the Marathay family, was on Friday, December 9 at the Fountains at La Cholla in Tucson. Arvind was among the earliest faculty members in OSC and a tremendous contributor to the College’s reputation for excellence. 

Join us on January 31 at the upcoming SPIE Photonics West conference to cheer on Ph.D. student, Simon Tsaoussis, as he showcases his startup company KostaCLOUD in the 2023 SPIE Startup Challenge.

Assistant Professor Judy Su's and Associate Professor Euan McLeod's work has been highlighted by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency in their monthly newsletter,  JSTO: In the News: "Light Work: Advancements in photonics research may lead to smaller and lighter chemical sensors."

Dave Hagan

Our understanding of nonlinear optical materials characterization has progressed sufficiently over the years to allow a reliable picture of the physical processes leading to the nonlinear optical properties of a material. This is largely thanks to the development of reliable, complimentary characterization methods. I will provide an overview of our techniques in nonlinear refraction and absorption characterization. Additionally, I will describe how nonlinear interactions can be strongly enhanced when two very different wavelengths are used. In addition to the obvious applications of this effect, I will describe applications in diverse applications as infrared detection and tunable mid-IR sources. Finally, I will present some rather amazing results in so-called “epsilon-near-zero” materials.

Marcia Rieke

The James Webb Space Telescope marks a new era in space astronomy. The telescope itself is the most complicated space astronomy mission ever launched with an instrument suite designed to take maximum advantage of the telescope’s capabilities. Because of the nature of Webb, the commissioning process was highly structured with a carefully designed timeline. I will discuss some of the challenges inherent in the commissioning process, and how the team met the challenges and how the mission moved from commissioning to routine operations. I will also present some of the early science results.