We would like to express our sincere gratitude towards Philoptics for their generous donation of a substantial amount of optical components and tables. Our collaboration with Philoptics over the past three years has been truly remarkable, particularly in the development of deflectometry for surface metrology in a high-precision fabrication facility. Through this project, we were able to achieve significant milestones, including the development of a cutting-edge surface metrology system and the graduation of two master’s students who worked on these projects. Additionally, we published several papers based on our collaborative efforts.

As Philoptics transitions to the next stage of industry demands, they no longer require the optical testing facility in Tucson. We are deeply appreciative that they have decided to donate this equipment to our group. We have successfully moved two optical tables, two workstation tables, and numerous boxes containing optical components. Currently, we are in the process of finding suitable space and organizing these valuable resources.

If you notice any inconvenience or safety risks related to the arrangement or stacking of the furniture, please do not hesitate to inform Heejoo. Once again, on behalf of the LOFT group, I would like to express our sincere appreciation for the generous donation from Philoptics. We look forward to the possibility of future exciting collaborations.

A LOFT group member was accidentally spotted at the SPIE AR/VR/MR conference. Surprise? The conference was very successful and impressive. So many interesting and challenging optical design and configuration problems/topics are waiting for talented optical scientists.

One of our LOFT peer, Dae Wook Kim, shares his thoughts and happiness with his research, work, and teaching at The University of Arizona. If you are interested in, please, check out his interview article in the Ginat Magellan Telescope Organization (GMTO) Newsletter or this Article. (Photo Credit: Damien Jemison at GMTO)

It has been another exciting and productive year 2018 with all the LOFT peers. Total 13 publications have been added to the Publication section. Please, enjoy the invaluable academic contributions from the LOFT group colleagues to our optics and astronomy society. Thank you!

Here is a Popular Mechanics article “The Deep Space Eye in the Desert” introducing the Giant Magellan Telescope project. It features our LOFT group member Dae Wook’s comments.

Joel Berkson is working on the NASA Space Grant internship program for 2017-2018. He is a University of Arizona Junior majoring in Optical Sciences and Engineering. He works with Dae Wook Kim from the College of Optical Sciences on “Deflectometry-based Simultaneous Alignment System for Segmented Optical Systems.” Congratulation Joel!

LOFT group members shouldn’t miss this great talk (Invited_Talk_Peter_Zygo) by Peter from ZYGO. If you have any question regarding the talk, please, contact Dae Wook Kim (dkim@optics.arizona.edu).

Peter is a Physics PhD working in precision optical measurements, and is currently the Executive Director of R&D at ZYGO and head of an R&D Team comprised of 7 PhD scientists. ZYGO R&D works on the invention, concept demonstration and development of new optical instruments. Peter is a fellow of the SPIE and of the OSA, has published 150 technical papers, tutorials and book chapters on a wide range of topics, and is an inventor for 132 issued US patents for optical instrumentation. As R&D Group Leader and a Principal Scientist, Peter has contributed to every ZYGO metrology product line since 1992.

Dr. Frater, Eric successfully defended his PhD dissertation, “Optical Alignment with CGH Phase References.”, on July 27th, 2016.  We send our big congratulation to this excellent LOFT group PhD, and please check out his “cool” dissertation for more detail on his work.

Congratulation,Hyesun Angela Cha (LOFT undergraduate student). Angela was listed as one of the  ​“Dean’s List With Distinction” (2015 Fall) and “Dean’s list” (2016 Spring) students in the College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona in 2016.

During the Spring 2012 semester LOFT partly sponsored the creation of 66 optics kits. 50 were donated to the Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona and 16 to CIAN (Center for Integrated Access Networks) from OSC. On November 12th 2012, a couple LOFT members gave training to the Scouts on how to use these kits and explain the optics behind the different experiments.