University of Rochester, NY
Laboratory for Laser
Energetics (LLE)
When managers at the home of the world’s most powerful
UV-laser began work on a new ultra-fast laser system to
produce a petawatt pulse for continuing their program
experiments, ASE Optics was called on to provide design
and implementation assistance for a wide variety of optical
systems. This DoD/DOE federally-funded energetics
laboratory is an integral part of the country’s overall fusion energy
research eff ort. As part of a ten-year operating
partnership with the LLE, ASE Optics has provided expert
optical engineering on a range of projects, including:
• Laser beam alignment system diagnostics
• Matrix-based procedures to optimize all parameters of an
off-axis optical system
• Long working-distance reflective imaging systems
• Optical path component stability analysis
• Laser performance diagnostics
• Containment cell laser damage monitoring and
inspecting systems
• Ultra-fast laser pulse-stretching systems
ASE Optics provides LLE with consistently high levels of
optical systems engineering and applications expertise on
a high performance, cost-effective basis and is considered
a valuable resource for optical engineering and optomechanical
engineering for the facility.
Laboratory for Laser
Energetics (LLE)
When managers at the home of the world’s most powerful
UV-laser began work on a new ultra-fast laser system to
produce a petawatt pulse for continuing their program
experiments, ASE Optics was called on to provide design
and implementation assistance for a wide variety of optical
systems. This DoD/DOE federally-funded energetics
laboratory is an integral part of the country’s overall fusion energy
research eff ort. As part of a ten-year operating
partnership with the LLE, ASE Optics has provided expert
optical engineering on a range of projects, including:
• Laser beam alignment system diagnostics
• Matrix-based procedures to optimize all parameters of an
off-axis optical system
• Long working-distance reflective imaging systems
• Optical path component stability analysis
• Laser performance diagnostics
• Containment cell laser damage monitoring and
inspecting systems
• Ultra-fast laser pulse-stretching systems
ASE Optics provides LLE with consistently high levels of
optical systems engineering and applications expertise on
a high performance, cost-effective basis and is considered
a valuable resource for optical engineering and optomechanical
engineering for the facility.
Lumetrics Inc.
When High-Tech Rochester, a non-profit
economic development organization,
discovered an innovative non-contact
metrology approach “orphaned” at
Eastman Kodak Company, they called
on ASE Optics to review the technology
and conduct marketing research to
understand business and product
development opportunities.
In 2003, ASE Optics founded Lumetrics
Inc. with the initial goal of licensing
and commercializing this revolutionary
Kodak technology for optical
thickness measurement and gauging.
Incorporating custom components and
subsystems designed by ASE Optics,
the resulting Lumetrics OptiGauge™
is renowned as a metrology tool of
incomparable capability. Used in both
laboratories and production lines, the
OptiGauge can measure the physical
thickness of multilayer materials from 12
microns to 8 millimeters to a precision of
100 nanometers.
ASE Optics continues to provide strategic
management and optical engineering
design support to Lumetrics for its
evolving line of innovative thickness
measurement products and systems.
Case Studies
Geospatial Systems Inc. (GSI)
Geospatial Systems Inc. is a Rochester, New York, developer of multispectral imaging
systems for commercial and military applications. When GSI won a contract to develop a
Multi-Object Spectrometer (MOS), ASE Optics was called on to design the complex optical
and opto-mechanical systems.
Geospatial Systems Inc. is a Rochester, New York, developer of multispectral imaging
systems for commercial and military applications. When GSI won a contract to develop a
Multi-Object Spectrometer (MOS), ASE Optics was called on to design the complex optical
and opto-mechanical systems.
Geospatial Systems President Kevin Kearney (right) and principal mechanical
design engineer Peter Hammond take a break during installation and testing of
the MOS on the University of Rochester’s CE Kenneth Mees telescope observatory.
The MOS is used to
simultaneously analyze the
visible spectra of hundreds of
astronomical objects. ASE Optics
engineers incorporated a Digital
Micromirror Device (DMD) — an
optical MEMS array of tilting
mirrors — to direct the individual
image pixels of an astronomical
image into a transmission grating
spectrometer.
• ASE Optics’ innovative use of
reflective aspheric optics allowed
the spectrometer to maintain
high resolution across the image
field, providing new and powerful
capabilities to astronomical
researchers.
simultaneously analyze the
visible spectra of hundreds of
astronomical objects. ASE Optics
engineers incorporated a Digital
Micromirror Device (DMD) — an
optical MEMS array of tilting
mirrors — to direct the individual
image pixels of an astronomical
image into a transmission grating
spectrometer.
• ASE Optics’ innovative use of
reflective aspheric optics allowed
the spectrometer to maintain
high resolution across the image
field, providing new and powerful
capabilities to astronomical
researchers.
©ASE Optics 2008-2009