Coherence in Optical Engineering

An Advanced FRED Tutorial

This advanced FRED tutorial covering coherent applications is an intensive 3-day course which includes topics on wave propagation, diffraction, polarization, partial coherence and Gaussian beams as they relate to applications in optical engineering. Attendees will receive hands-on instruction with the FRED software, complete with dozens of examples, which provides practical experience in applying the underlying theory and methods for coherent raytracing.

An optional fourth day at the start of the course covers FRED’s scripting language, which is used intensively through out the tutorial.

Topics covered in this tutorial

  • Fundamental concept of waves and wave theory
  • Spatial coherence and temporal coherence
  • The wave equation for plane and spherical waves
  • Diffraction in free space, Rayleigh-Sommerfeld theory, and aperture diffraction
  • Gaussian beam theory
  • Multi-mode beams
  • Astigmatic Gaussian beams
  • M-Squared criterion
  • Collimation in a Gaussian beam
  • Complex raytracing fundamentals
  • Failure modes of the coherent beam propagation method
  • Complex ray and field synthesis
  • Gabor synthesis methods
  • Gaussian beam decomposition
  • Propagation of arbitrary fields
  • Partial coherence with diffractometer and microscopy examples
  • Interferometry (Twyman-Green, Fizeau, Michelson, Shearing)
  • Spatial filtering and beam smoothing
  • Fabry-Perot spectroscopy and laser cavities
  • Step-index, GRIN and PC fibers, fiber modes and coupling efficiency
  • Coherence with birefringent materials
  • Wide angle diffraction and the boundary wave treatment
  • Propagation in turbulent media


Requirements

  • Attendance at each advanced tutorial is limited to 16 attendees.
  • Attendees should have at least a rudimentary knowledge of optical physics.
  • Attendees are required to have previously taken the FRED Tutorial.
  • The examples and files distributed for the course are designed with the FRED Optical Engineering Software.
  • A working knowledge of BASIC or another programming language is advisable but not required.  As many of the example files covered in the tutorial incorporate FRED’s scripting language, an optional fourth day at the start of the tutorial focusing on FRED’s scripting language can be attended.

Instructor

The instructor is Dr. Steven Miller, Senior Optical Scientist at Photon Engineering.  Dr. Miller has experience in the areas of lasers, nonlinear optics and optical engineering. He began his career at Texas Instruments developing optical counter-countermeasures and investigating laser damage to optical materials and systems for their Defense Systems unit. Steven also participated in TI’s early development of Deformable Mirror Device (DMD) which is now widely used in displays around the world. Since that time, Steven has done extensive stray light analysis for Raytheon Missile Systems, laser development and stray light analysis for Ball Aerospace, and worked in technical support and consulting for both Breault Research and Photon Engineering.  The course’s content draws on his wealth of practical knowledge gained from over 20 years of industry experience.