Dulce Gonzalez Utrera

Dulce Gonzalez Utrera is part of the Ophthalmic and Visual Optics Laboratory in the College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona. Under the supervision of Professor Jim Schwiegerling, she has been developing measurement techniques for freeform  optical surfaces (surfaces without rotational symmetry). In particular, she is working on testing progressive addition lenses (PALs) that are used to correct presbyopia, a condition in which the eye loses the ability to focus on near objects. PALs are spectacles lenses that have a progressive variation of optical power without any discontinuity which allows these lenses to correct object images from different distances to the eye. Because of its application, it is imperative that  progressive lenses be prescribed, made and tested in a very short period of time. Hence the need for applying one technique that rapidly and accurately characterizes the surface shape with a simple hardware setup. This technique is SCOTS (Software Configurable Optical Test System) that consists of an LCD  (Liquid Crystal Display) screen that illuminates the test surface with a pattern, a camera that captures images of the surface, and a laptop. The shape  of the freeform optical surface is determined by processing the images.