Short Courses
Short courses are a wonderful way to enhance your knowledge of the optical field. OIC selects experts in their fields to provide you with an in-depth look at intriguing topics. The courses are designed to increase your knowledge of a specific subject while offering you the experience of knowledgeable teachers. An added benefit is the availability of continuing education units (CEUs).
CEUs are awarded to each participant who successfully completes the short course. The CEU is a nationally recognized unit of measure for continuing education and training programs that meet established criteria. To earn CEUs, a participant must complete the CEU credit form and course evaluation and return it to the instructor at the end of the course. CEUs will be calculated and certificates will be mailed to participants.
- Tuition for short courses is a separate fee, and advance registration is recommended: the number of seats is limited.
- Short courses will sell out quickly! There will be no waiting list.
- Short course materials are not available for purchase.
Schedule
June 6, 2010, 8:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
SC227: Understanding the Optical Properties of Optical Coating Materials, Olaf Stenzel; Fraunhofer IOF, Germany
Course Description
This is an intermediate level course for people who would like to become familiar with fundamentals and practical modelling of the optical properties of optical materials with emphasis on coating materials. Focus is made on interference coating materials, but selected data on semiconductor films or organic layers complete the subject. The discussed examples span the field from traditional textbook material to rather recent results and modern developments.
The course provides attendees with theoretical knowledge on the basic properties of linear optical constants. It consists of three parts. In the first (more formal) part, starting from Maxwell‘s equations, general properties of the optical constants are introduced and discussed basing on fundamental principles of the interaction of light with matter, including causality and Kramers-Kronig-relations. The second (and more applicative) main part of the course concentrates on the derivation and application of classical dispersion models to describe the optical behaviour of isotropic thin film optical materials. Examples include metals and dielectrics as well as material mixtures. The short third part completes the description with a concise survey of the semiclassical treatment of optical coating properties.
Some basic knowledge on higher mathematics (differential and integral calculus as well as vector algebra) is presumed as well as basic knowledge on classical electrodynamics. Some knowledge on solid state physics and quantum mechanics is of use, but not necessary to benefit from the course.
Benefits and Learning Objectives
This course should enable you to:
- Discuss the optical constants of any material basing on fundamental physical principles;
- Identify a suitable dispersion model applicable to the material under investigation in practice;
- Calculate the optical constants of material mixtures, among them porous layers and systems with metal island films;
- Discover correlations between optical and mechanical layer properties; and
- Simulate linear optical constants at both classical and semi-classical levels.
Intended Audience
This course is of use for anyone who needs to compute thin film optical constants for either design or characterization tasks. It is addressed to newcomers and experts on technical and high school level and to engineer and science students of higher terms.
Biography
Olaf Stenzel received his Diplom Physiker in 1986 from Moscow State University, his Dr. rer. nat. in 1990 and his Dr. habil in 1999, both from the University of Technology in Chemnitz, Germany. He has over 6 years teaching experience as a university lecturer. In 2001, he changed to the Optical Coating Department at the Fraunhofer Institute of Applied Optics and Precision Engineering in Jena, Germany. At present he is the Group Manager for NIR- and VIS-Coatings at this department. The combination of university teaching until 2001 with more applicative research work at the Fraunhofer Institute defines the individual content and style of the offered short course.
Olaf Stenzel has authored and co-authored more than 50 scientific papers, mainly in the field of thin film spectroscopy and authored two textbook on thin film optics.
SC297: From Understanding the Growth Process to Judicious Control of the Performance of Optical Film Systems, Ludvik Martinu; Ecole Polytechnique Montreal, Canada
Course Description
Advances in optics, optoelectronics, and photonics strongly depend on the development of new deposition processes and film materials for optical film systems such as optical filters, waveguides, and optical microelectromechanical systems. Besides appropriate control of the optical constants (refractive index, extinction coefficient and optical loss), the requirements include enhanced mechanical performance, long-term environmental stability, and specific functional characteristics (electrical conductivity, gas or vapor permeation, hydrophobicity or hydrophilicity, etc.). Such film properties strongly depend on the film composition and microstructure that are dictated by the physical and chemical surface reactions during the film growth.
This course provides the most recent background and understanding of two important aspects necessary for further advances in optical coatings:
- Effect of energetic ion- and photon-induced reactions at the surface during the film growth by different complementary techniques including ion (beam) assisted deposition (IAD or IBAD), balanced and unbalanced magnetron sputtering (BMS and UMS), dual ion beam sputtering (DIBS), filtered cathodic arc deposition (FCAD), and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), while concentrating on the most recent pulsed-discharge processes and time- and spatially-resolved diagnostic methods. This includes the principles and capabilities of the microstructural characterization methods suitable for materials assessment, for process optimization and for reverse engineering.
- Metrology of the mechanical, tribological and other functional properties of optical films and their long term stability under various thermal, radiative and environmental conditions. It makes a link between the optical, mechanical and other characteristics, the film microstructure and the film growth mechanisms, allowing one to better perform film system optimization. This is illustrated by numerous practical examples of filter performance with discrete and graded designs ranging from antireflective coatings and complex optical filters to the optical coatings on plastics.
Benefits and Learning Objectives
This course should enable you to:
- Describe the principles of different complementary deposition techniques of optical films and discuss their advantages for specific applications.
- Explain the role surface reactions in the formation thin film microstructure.
- Determine and discuss the relationship between the microstructure and the films optical, mechanical and other functional properties.
- Summarize different testing methods for the assessment of the microstructure and of the optical and mechanical properties, and compare and explain their reliability.
- Determine and justify the choice of specific deposition methods, thin film materials and characterization techniques for particular optical applications including multilayer and graded layer optical filters.
Intended Audience
This course is intended for technologists, students, researchers, as well as managers who wish to obtain a condensed overview of the processes, materials and characterization techniques related to the fabrication of optical coatings, optical film systems, and to their optimization, as illustrated by numerous examples from laboratory and industrial practice. Familiarity of the participants with basic concepts of physics and engineering would be helpful but not necessary.
Biography
Ludvik Martinu is Professor at École Polytechnique de Montréal, Head of its Department of Engineering Physics, Associate Director of the Thin Film Research Center, founder and director of the Functional Coating and Surface Engineering Laboratory, Vice-president of the SVC, and organizer and co-organizer of numerous international symposia. His main research interest is surface engineering and the physics and technology of thin films for optics, photonics, aerospace, biomedical and other applications. His activities resulted in more than 300 publications and 6 patents.
SC299: Design, Pre-Production Analysis, Computational Manufacturing and Reverse Engineering of Optical Coatings, Alexander V. Tikhonravov; Res. Computing Ctr., Moscow State Univ., Russian Federation
Course Description
In this course the most efficient optical coating design techniques are discussed. Modern design approaches aimed at constructing sets of theoretical designs with different combinations of principle design parameters (merit function value, number of design layers, design total optical thickness) are considered. It is demonstrated that these design approaches extend opportunities for choosing the most practical design with the best probability of a high manufacturing yield.
The course covers various aspects of the pre-production error analysis of optical coatings. It is demonstrated how this analysis enables one to reveal the most critical coatings layers which deposition requires a special attention. Recent results connected with the pre-production estimation of thickness errors associated with optical monitoring are observed. It is shown how to use error analysis for a pre-production estimation of production yield.
The course demonstrates an increasingly important role of computational manufacturing of optical coatings (computer simulation of deposition and monitoring processes). It is shown how computational manufacturing experiments can be used for selecting optimal monitoring strategies and choosing designs with the best probability of high production yield. In connection with this topic specification of various monochromatic monitoring strategies is discussed.
The course presents main ideas of reverse engineering (post-production characterization) of manufactured optical coatings. It is discussed how reverse engineering can be used for calibrating of monitoring devices and eliminating of systematic manufacturing errors. Raising production yields with the help of the on-line correction of monitoring and deposition processes is considered.
Benefits and Learning Objectives
This course should enable you to:
- Identify and test modern design approaches that are most suitable for solving your specific design problems;
- Perform a pre-production error analysis of optical coatings in order to reveal the most critical coatings layers which deposition requires a special attention, estimate a cumulative effect of thickness errors;
- Compare various monitoring strategies and perform computational manufacturing experiments for selecting optimal monitoring strategies and choosing designs with the best probability of high production yield; and
- Investigate main reasons for the degradation of the spectral performance of manufactured coatings and find ways to improve the production yield.
Intended Audience
The intended audience includes designers of optical coatings, production engineers and technicians. The background required is a general understanding of what are thin films and optical coatings. Prior knowledge of design and evaluation techniques is not essential because the course will cover basic ideas and practical aspects of modern design approaches and new topics related to choosing the most practical design and maximizing the production yield.
Biography
Alexander Tikhonravov is a Professor of Theoretical Physics and the Director of the Research Computing Center of Moscow State University. He has received his PhD degree and Doctor of Sciences degree from Moscow State University. He has authored nearly 300 publications, among them the book “Basics of Optics of Multilayer Systems”. Alexander Tikhonravov is the inventor of the needle optimization technique, a universal technique for the design of optical coatings. He was a course instructor at the OIC 1995, OIC 1998, OIC 2001, OIC 2004 and OIC 2007 meetings.
June 6, 2010, 1:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.
SC295: Plastics Optics - Coatings and Antireflective Structures, Ulrike Schulz; Fraunhofer IOF, Germany
Course Description
Modern optical applications need solutions for the antireflective equipment of polymer surfaces. The problems for coating comprise thermal limitations, incompatible mechanical properties of coating and substrate materials and the interaction between polymers and plasma. This course provides attendees with a basic knowledge of transparent polymer materials for optical applications. The course concentrates on polymer material properties, coating processes suitable for polymers, interactions between polymers and plasma, adhesion, stress, interference layers for polymers, hard coatings, top-layers to control the wettability and evaluation and testing procedures.
The course especially concentrates on antireflection coatings and antireflective sub-wavelength structures. The potential to produce antireflective interference coatings is shown for plasma-assisted vacuum deposition techniques as well as for sol-gel wet chemical processes. In addition, various procedures to obtain antireflective structures on polymers will be explained. Special solutions are discussed for acrylic, polycarbonate and cycloolefin polymers.
Benefits and Learning Objectives
This course should enable you to:
- Specify the best suitable polymer materials for your application;
- Understand the special behavior of polymers during vacuum coating processes;
- Evaluate different techniques for antireflection of polymer surfaces; and
- Define suitable characterization tools and testing procedure for your plastic optics.
Intended Audience
This course is of use for anyone who would like to get an overview about the problems connected with coating plastics. It is addressed to newcomers and experts on technical and high school level and to engineer and science students of higher terms.
Biography
Dr. Ulrike Schulz is chemist and group manager at the optical coating department of Fraunhofer IOF in Jena, Germany. She has been involved in optical coating on plastics for more than 15 years. She has published numerous papers and patents and is author of the book chapter “Coating on plastics” (published in “Handbook of plastic optics”, S. Bäumer, ed., Wiley-VCH, 2005 and 2010).
SC298: Manufacture of Precision Evaporative Coatings, James B. Oliver; Univ. of Rochester, USA
Course Description
Evaporation is an ideal process for the deposition of optical coatings, providing flexibility in source materials, scalability for large-aperture substrates, relatively low film stress, and high laser damage resistance. While evaporation is a “well-understood” and “basic” deposition process, a deeper level of understanding provides the ability to produce coatings of significantly greater precision and performance. If the fundamental requirements of a coated optical component are spectral/photometric performance, sufficiently flat surface figure, environmental resistance and/or stability, and laser damage resistance, then it is important to control the process variables that influence these requirements. Through sufficient process control of layer endpoint determination, film thickness uniformity, thin-film material structure and vacuum chamber conditions, it is possible to produce extremely high performance evaporative coatings.
The goal of this course is to provide detailed information on how to establish and improve evaporative coating processes for precision optical coatings. Design considerations for coating chambers, such as source placement, substrate fixturing, control of film thickness uniformity, and thickness monitors will be discussed. Trade-offs in the selection of source materials, means of controlling film structure, and the influence on the performance of the coated component will be considered. Process details will be approached with a focus on practicality; film properties must be measurable and system designs must be practical and cost-effective. These process concepts are readily implemented in standard evaporation systems, providing significant improvements in existing coating facilities.
Benefits and Learning Objectives
This course should enable you to:
- Determine proper evaporation source placement in a coating chamber;
- Evaluate different types of substrate fixturing and rotation systems;
- Understand how to calculate film thickness uniformity;
- Understand the impact of film stress and how to control it;
- Realize the importance of the deposited film structure and its influence on film properties; and
- Better control evaporation processes for high-precision spectral or photometric performance.
Intended Audience
This course is intended for engineers and scientists who develop or manufacture optical coatings using evaporation processes. Material will be presented at an intermediate to advanced level, though many topics will be well-suited for anyone establishing or refining evaporation deposition processes.
Biography
James Oliver earned bachelor's and master's degrees in optics from the University of Rochester Institute of Optics, and he has been working in optical thin films since 1992. He is currently a research engineer in the Optical Manufacturing group at the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE), where he develops and manufactures optical coatings for large-aperture, high-fluence laser applications. He served as the OSA Thin Films Chair from 2003-2005, co-chair of the SPIE “Advances in Thin Film Coatings for Optical Applications“ in Denver, CO (2004), and has been a member of the Program Committee for the Optical Interference Coatings Conference since 2007. He gives short courses as a part of the annual summer school and is a lecturer in Optical Interference Coating Design at the University of Rochester.
SC348: Physics and Technology of Optical Thin Film Deposition, Norbert Kaiser; Fraunhofer IOF, Germany
Course Description
This course is of use for anyone who needs to learn how optical coatings are used to tailor the optical properties of surfaces. After an introduction about the fundamentals of optical coatings and vacuum technologies, the participants should learn to calculate the optical properties of uncoated and coated surfaces. Based on this, typical design and deposition concepts and a survey of current applications will be presented.
Benefits and Learning Objectives
This course should enable you to:
- Define optical material properties and review types of optical coatings;
- Describe theory of interference films and apply rules of thumb for quick overview of performance;
- Explain fundamentals of vacuum technologies in terms of performance and costs;
- Identify basic structure related film properties;
- Discuss thin film characterization methods and practical evaluation techniques;
- Test modern design concepts with commercial software;
- Discuss industrial needs in optical coating technologies vs. performance and costs; and
- Discuss international trends.
Intended Audience
This course is of use for anyone who needs to learn how optical coatings are used to tailor the optical properties of surfaces. It is addressed to both newcomers and experts alike. The course will provide a comprehensive view of the field while reflecting the changing nature of optical coatings. A Summary Review of the entire field are presented in logical order and completed by extensive industrial research background.
Biography
Norbert Kaiser heads the Optical Thin Film Department and is deputy director of the Fraunhofer Institute Applied Optics and Precision Engineering in Jena. He was instructor Short Course - SVC 2003 Optical Coatings for the DUV-, VUV-, EUV-, and C-316 Soft X-ray Spectral Region, San Francisco 2003 and Tucson 2004. He is Professor for Optical Coatings and teaches at the Technical University of Jena, Germany.
SC349: Space Optics, Michael L. Fulton; Ion Beam Optics Inc., USA
Course Description
Optical coated components play a vital role in the US space program. It is the intention of this course to explore specific design and production challenges encountered by optical engineers working on space systems. Both in man-flight and remote sensing space applications there is an explicit requirement that the optical engineer to produce highly specialized and environmentally stable coating designs.
Starting with single layer coatings for space solar cell cover glass, this course will progress through multi-layer anti-reflection coatings used on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station windows. Complex remote sensing instrumentation requires specialized optical coatings–a delineation of some of these will be presented. Concomitant with the demand for advanced space coatings has been a rapid development in thin-film deposition technologies. Some of the most effective deposition technologies, used for producing modern optical coatings for space applications, will be explored.
Finally, we examine the optical coating requirements for some recent and future space missions. This will include the Kepler mirror coating program, supporting the mission of looking for earth-like planets in our galaxy. In conclusion, we will discuss the possible use of optical coating technology to deposit coatings in the vacuum of space for future Luna and Mars missions.
Benefits and Learning Objectives
This course should enable you to:
- Compare thin-film deposition technologies and their applicability for coating space optical components;
- Define the criteria for developing a specification for an optical coating used in the space environment;
- Describe the approach that a thin-film optical coating designer would use to producing an advanced space coating;
- Determine the coating design type that would be useful for difference space optical requirements;
- Discuss the environmental requirements of the pre-launch, launch, and orbit that place particular stress on coated space optics;
- Explain how energetic deposition techniques increase the durability and optical performance of coated space optics;
- Identify filter types, and how they are used in space optical applications, such as anti-reflection; band pass; edge filters; high reflectors; etc.; and
- Summarize how space coating technology was used on past programs and what areas of future space work will require even more advanced thin-film depositions.
Intended Audience
This new course is intended for optics professionals and others who are interested in the design and production of space mission optical coatings. It is envisaged that the course content will be accessible to students as well as engineering professionals.
Biography
Starting with Optical Coating Laboratory Inc. (OCLI) Michael L. Fulton worked on coatings for a variety of space applications: solar cell coverglass; Space Shuttle windows; Galileo IR filters (Jupiter mission); GOES IR filters (weather satellites); remote sensing; and others. He pioneered Ion Assisted Deposition (IAD) technology for the production of advanced space coatings. At the Boeing High Technology Center he developed the UV protection coatings on silicone Fresnel lenses for space solar concentrators. After returning from Singapore, he joined ZC&R where he designed and produced the window coatings for the International Space Station. In 2000 he joined the Rockwell Science Center where he developed the hyper-spectral filter coatings used on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. In 2003 he started Ion Beam Optics Inc., where the Phase II AFRL SBIR contract for developing radiation resistant coatings for space solar cell coverglass was successfully completed. Recently, he joined Surface Optics Corp where the Kepler mirror and other advanced space coatings are produced.
