Brillouin Confocal Microscopy

The mechanical properties of biological tissues and biomaterials are closely related to their functional abilities; thus, measuring such mechanical properties non-invasively, in vivo, with micron-scale resolution, would have a wide range of biomedical applications.  We are exploring an all-optical approach to this problem based on Brillouin light scattering.  In Brillouin scattering, the interaction between incident photons and acoustic phonons inside a material leads to a tiny frequency shift in the scattered light.  To measure such frequency shift, we have developed a high-resolution optical spectrometer with unprecedented detection efficiency.  In addition, we have integrated the spectrometer with a home-built confocal microscope to allow the formation of images that use elastic properties as contrast mechanism.

A Spectroscopy Tale

 Just as holograms and diffractive optical elements are designed to take a monochromatic beam of light and create spatial patterns, in the early 1990s I started looking for a way to take a beam of polychromatic light and produce spectral patterns.  Creating synthetic molecular spectra lead to a DARPA program to use correlation spectroscopy for remote chemical sensing.  For this program MEMs programmable micro-diffraction gratings were used to make the spectrometer flexible.  The participants were so excited about this technology that we made the big jump and started Polychromix.  I will describe the technical path from this development in basic science to a novel spectrometer produce, the PHAZIR, a hand-held materials analyzer.

Creating Corporate Advantage

In recent years, there have been many claims and programs that offer the promise of corporate advantage. But I believe that it all comes back to Corporate Culture. Your culture yields the results your management has put into motion. If you want to change the outcome, then strategically craft your culture to yield the desired results.

I’ll offer some experiences and lessons learned about crafting the corporate culture at Optimax, especially developing the culture while growing the workforce. This will be followed by a few examples of creative rewards and innovation in support of the corporate mission to make optics faster, cheaper and higher precision than we did yesterday. These technologies apply to aspheric optics as well as conventional spherical and plano optical components.

Four Centuries of Imaging Technology, 1607 – 2007

OSA Eastman Speaker 

The history of the development of imaging technology combines important elements from scientific research, materials development, technology generally, and economic forces. All are examined in this talk, which describes important developments from the time of Galileo through the most recent developments in microscopy, television, and ultrasound imaging.