Speaker: Dr. Benny Cheung, Professor and an Associate Head of the Partner State Key Laboratory of Ultra-precision Machining Technology in Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at The  Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Host: Dae Wook Kim (Please, email me for more information.)

Topic: Research in Ultra-precision Machining and Freeform Surface Measurement

Abstract: The use of freeform optics for various industrial applications has become more widespread. In this presentation, the latest research related to Ultra-precision Machining and Freeform Surface Measurement  being undertaken in the Partner State Key Laboratory of Ultraprecision Machining Technology at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University is presented. Some examples of applications of the technologies in freeform optics are also discussed.

Speaker: Dr. Wei-Yao Hsu, Researcher and division manager at Instrument Technology Research Center

Host: Dae Wook Kim (For more information, please contact via email.)

In this talk, I will give a brief introduction of Instrument Technology Research Center (ITRC) and the current development of precision optical fabrication at ITRC. ITRC is a government funded research institute pioneering in instrument related frontier researches in Taiwan. Currently, ITRC has four research fields ranged from electro-optics and remote sensing, nanotechnology and bio-medical, vacuum and thin-film technology, and instrumentation and auto-system engineering. Optical fabrication is one of the core technologies of the instrumentation and auto-system engineering field. ITRC devotes the fabrication technology of optical components, such as: lenses, mirrors, and prisms, to support the internal and external research requirements since it was founded in 1974. Based on the optical fabrication experiments, ITRC was supported to organize a large optics fabrication and inspection group to develop the large optics fabrication technology for remote sensing instrument since 2009. The first mission of this group is to deliver a 466mm concave mirror and a 160mm convex mirror in 2012. In this talk, I will also introduce what we have done for this mission.

The first GMT mirror is completed and wrapped. Check out the article on the university website.

http://uanews.org/story/world-s-most-advanced-mirror-giant-telescope-completed

Dae Wook Kim (Assistant Research Professor) presented in the Faculty Research session: “SAGUARO: Open Source Data Analysis and Visualization Software Platform”.

Sara Landau-Lampen (Ph.D. student) will present in the Student Research session: “Current Advancement in the Implementation of the Sine Condition Test”.

Sophie Morel (M.S. student) will present in the Five-Minute Presentation session: “Estimation of Phase Error Caused by Dust Particle in Interferometric Measurement”.

According to OSA, “Software Configurable Optical Test System: A Computerized Reverse Hartmann Test,” was the top downloaded article in Applied Optics for the month of August! The paper written, by LOFT researchers Peng Su, Robert E. Parks, Lirong Wang, J. Roger P. Angel and Jim H. Burge, has been viewed 1,425 times since it was published in August 2010. The article can be accessed through OSA’s website using the link above, or through the Publications menu option on the LOFT website. For direct access, click here.

Edmund Optics wrote a press release to herald the recently published SPIE “Field Guide to Optomechanical Design and Analysis,” which was written by professor James H. Burge and alumna Katie Schwertz.

The LOFT group just released SAGUARO 1.4.3. Feel free to check out our video tutorials on SAGUARO 101 and to post individual modules to SAGUARO Garden. SAGUARO has 576 recorded downloads! Many thanks to the LOFT SAGUARO team.

Since LOFT group released the beta version SAGUARO in Sept. 20011, the first official release of SAGUARO 1.4 is now available. Many thanks to the LOFT SAGUARO team.

One of our LOFT group Ph.D. students Laura Coyle was named one of only 85 Philanthropic Educational OrganizationScholars in the country, notes UANews.

SAGUARO 1.3.1 includes updated module fixes for GenDataConvert, UnitConvert, and MapMaskTool. SAGUARO users can download previous versions or see the Change Log for detailed information under the Release Archive.