The National Science Foundation (NSF) is committed to creating an educated and skilled workforce in optics and photonics at all levels from K-12 students to Associate Degrees and PhDs through a variety of decentralized funding opportunities as described in this paper and associated presentation. NSF has special funding mechanisms for teachers through the Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program and for undergraduate students through the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. NSF reaches out to community colleges to support a variety of associate-level programs for technicians through its Advanced Technology Education (ATE) program. Lastly through multi-institutional and multidisciplinary ten-year investments via the Engineering Research Centers (ERC) program, NSF is preparing a cadre of next-generation optics and photonics engineers and scientists with the technical knowledge and entrepreneurial skills to address critical global challenges and to succeed in a competitive and interconnected world.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology as the U.S. National Metrology Institute has the fundamental
responsibility to continuously push the limits of measurement science (metrology) to promote U.S. innovation and
industrial competitiveness. In 2004, NIST finished construction of a $235 million, 49 843 m2 Advanced Measurement
Laboratory to enhance its measurement capabilities in response to the fast-growing metrology needs of the scientific and
industrial community.
The design of two broadband hybrid diffrve-refrve optical systems a landscape type lens and a Schmidt telescope was investigated. The systems were achromatized using the large negative dispersion characteristic of kinoforms. In the scalar wave regime these strucwres can approach 100 efficiency for one object point and wavelength but efficiency inevitably decreases when these parameters change. We evaluated polychromatic image quality taking diffraction efficiency into account by constructing properly weighted geometric point spread functions from several diffracted orders and calculating modulation transfer functions. The MTFs of the hybrid achmmats were improved at high spatial frequencies but reduced at low frequencies because inefficiency caused diffrtion into non-design ders. 2.
The International Lens Design Conference (ILDC) has traditionally included one or more lens design problems for members of the design community to consider. 1''2''3 This year there are two: the Monochromatic QUartet and the NonLens. The problems are intended to be enjoyable and instructive for participants conference attendees and even for readers of these Proceedings! The NonLens was suggested by Professor Adriaan Waither of Worcester Polytechnic Institote. It is an unusual lens that requires the participants to determine the design form and optimization method that best satisfies the requirements. Furthermore it is of theoretical interest explained by Waither later in this paper. Eighteen individuals submitted twenty solutions. They are all included here along with several simple solutions that were generated for comparison. 1. The problem: A NonLens The following statement of the NonLens problem was distributed with the ILDC Call for Papers: 2. Background of the NonLens Prof. Walther sent a history of his interest in NonLenses which follows (slightly paraphrased) " As a graduate swdent in Deift I worked as a research assistant for A. C. S. van Heel. He was the man who. . . had revived the art of lens design in Holland. He played an important role in the creation of Oldelft company and had trained their original design staff. He was also a superb teher one of the old gentlemen of science. During and after the
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