UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA IN HUNTSVILLE

"The Center for Applied Optics (CAO) at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) seeks support to establish a transformational environment for education and research in the design and fabrication of advanced optical systems. In this pursuit, CAO proposes to integrate novel optical fabrication capabilities into its graduate and undergraduate optical engineering programs. Recent advances in optical fabrication equipment particularly with deterministic polishing tools have enabled the making of non-traditional optical components such as ?free-form? (not rotationally symmetric) optics. The ability to reliably produce complex wavefronts will in turn alter the paradigm of optical design. Specifically, UAH will acquire a novel jet fluid optical polishing tool from Zeeko Inc. The intellectual merit of the activities entails creating a resource for industry, government, and academia to optimize the implementation of advanced fabrication concepts into current and future optical applications. The broader impacts of the proposed activity would include providing undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees in the optical sciences (through existing optics programs at the University of Alabama in Huntsville) an opportunity to obtain hands-on experience with state-of-the-art and evolving optical fabrication equipment. The primary research activities will specifically focus on optics/optical systems that are very difficult or impossible to fabricate using traditional optical fabrication techniques. These types of optics include free form optics, high aspect ratio optics (such as adaptive optics and light-weighted optics), very high precision optics (including aspheres, spheres, prisms/ corner cubes, etc.), and associated optical testing."

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