Harnessing Light Optical Science and Engineering for the 21st Century (1998) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 5-28
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From page 5... ...
As we move into the next century, light wi l l play an even more critical role often the central role i n the ways we communicate, in the practice of medicine, in providing for the nation's defense, and in the tools we use to explore the frontiers of science. Optical science and engineering or, more conveniently, just optics is the diverse body of technologies, together with their scientific underpinnings, that seek to harness light for these and other tasks.
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From page 6... ...
Examples include optical lithography systems for making computer chips, high-resolution microscopes, adaptive optics for ground-based astronomy, infrared sensors for a multitude of applications, and highly efficient lighting sources. The sidebar on page 7 suggests some of the ways in which these and other optical technologies affect our everyday lives.
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From page 7... ...
temperature-moderating window coatings pho to typesetting compact disks laser fabric cutting infrared noncontact"ear"thermometers infrared automobile security systems; optical monitors for antilock brakes; LED, LCD, and optical fiber dashboard displays; LED taillights optical-fiber sensors to monitor bridge integrity solar power for emergency services LED traffic lights high-reflectivity surfaces for highway signs laser traffic radar optical fiber telephone cables optical scanners and fax machines photolithography for making computer chips optical data storage laser printers photocopiers overhead projectors, slide projectors, laser pointers infrared motion sensors for home security laser range-finders and surveying equipment laser surgery, optical tools for medical diagnosis laser welding and cutting, optical stereolithography for rapid three-dimensional prototyping microscopes, magnifying lenses binoculars cameras, videocameras eyeglasses supermarket bar-code scanners credit card holograms to prevent counterfeiting image recognition for produce quality control optical inspection to ensure clean bottles optical inspection for labeling and packaging bar-code readers for inventory control videodisks and videodisk prayers television displays active-matrix displays for computers optical fiber local area networks
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From page 8... ...
Nonlinear optical materials, such as lithium niabate and potassium niabate tantalate, and laser hosts such as yttrium aluminum garnet, were"molecularly engineered"through a synergism between optical physicists and engineers on the one hand and, on the other, solid-state chemists and materials scientists with a deep understanding of how chemical bonding and crystallographic structure determine optical properties. Understanding of the basic principles of crystal growth and phase equilibria, coupled with novel preparation techniques and factory engineering, paced the development and introduction of these new materials.
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From page 9... ...
All elements of information transport are likely to require optical fibers and lasers, including 1 OO-gigabit-per-second access networks, 1 0gigabit-per-second local area networks, and even 1 gigabit per second to the desktop. Information processing is likely to require advances in both electronics and optics to achieve tera-era rates, and information storage is likely to rely on both volume optical storage and advanced O v e r v i e w
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From page 10... ...
This vision demands hundredfold improvements in many central capabilities. For example, clock speeds for most information processing tasks were measured in hundreds of megahertz in 1997; to achieve the goal of the tera era, they must increase to several gigahertz by 2010.
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From page 11... ...
Flow cytometry, an optically based diagnostic technique, is a critical tool for monitoring viral loads in AIDS patients and for guiding their therapy. Optical techniques are also under active investigation for noninvasive applications ranging from "needleless" glucose monitoring for the control of diabetes to the early detection of breast cancer.
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From page 12... ...
Optical Sensing, Lighting, anti Energy Advances in lighting sources and light distribution systems are poised to bring about a profound change in the way we use energy for lighting. Currently, lighting accounts for almost one-fifth of the electrical power used in the United States each year.
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From page 13... ...
Optical techniques, applied both directly to manufacturing and as process control and diagnostic tools, have become crucial in such diverse industries as semiconductor manufacturing, civil construction, and chemical production. To cite the most obvious example, every semiconductor chip mass produced in the world today is manufactured using optical lithography.
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From page 14... ...
Optical inspection of finished or intermediate parts for quality control and statistical process control is especially critical in the electronics industry. Much less sophisticated applications but nonetheless highly useful ones are found in laser guidance systems for the construction industry, where such systems have greatly reduced costs and allowed more rapid and more precise alignments in building, tunneling, and surface grading.
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From page 15... ...
Developments in optics also promise a host of less obvious payoffs for defense many with likely civilian spin-offs as well. For example, Department of Defense investments in new high-leverage optical technologies such as photonics and chemical agent detection will provide a unique military advantage on the battlefield of the future, as well as nondefense payoffs.
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From page 16... ...
This work was driven by the needs of the military, government agencies, and scientific research. Today, as military budgets and lot sizes decrease and the use of optics grows in applications as diverse as optical fibers for communication, large space optics, and high-performance short-wavelength aspheric optics for integrated-circuitfabrica tion, the demand is growing for cheaper, faster, more flexible optics manufacturing with increased capabilities.
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From page 17... ...
Research on nonlinear optical materials promises to open up new approaches for future optical devices. High-frequency sources and optical components are enabling microscopy and lithography to move into the extreme ultraviolet O v e r v i e w The momentum distribution of atoms during Bose condensation of a lasercooled dilute gas.
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From page 18... ...
In most cases, the field's vitality is sufficient to keep up the rate of advance without major changes in public policy or other major intervention. In a few important cases, however, action is needed to overcome barriers that might slow the present pace of rapid progress to ensure consumer access to the dramatically increasing capacity of optical-fiber communications, for example, or to take full advantage of the potential of noninvasive optical methods for medical monitoring and diagnosis.
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From page 19... ...
As technological advances reduce the cost of optical components, it is becoming cost-effective to use optical fiber communication systems over shorter and shorter distances. Today's long-distance fiber networks extend only as far as the local telephone office, where signals are transferred to metal wires for transmission to and from individual homes and offices.
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From page 20... ...
. Particularly in the area of monitoring basic body chemistries, the fundamental science is often incomplete; for example, the optical signatures of some human biological processes and substances have yet to be determined.
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From page 21... ...
The National Institutes of Health should recognize the importance of optical science in biomedical research aimed at understanding human disease by establishing a study section dedicated to this area. NIH should raise the priority for funding innovative optical technologies for medicine and medical research.
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From page 22... ...
National Defense Optical technologies have played and continue to play an indis pensable role in national defense. Post-Cold War Department of Defense (DOD)
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From page 23... ...
These areas include the low-cost manufacturing of precision aspheric, diffractive, and conformal optics, discussed below under "Manufacturing of Optical Components and Systems." Despite the reality of Department of Defense downsizing and acquisition reform, DOD should stress investment in R&D on key optical technologies such as photonics, sensors, and high-power tunable lasers to gain maximum defense competitive advantage. Special attention should also be given to investment in low-cost manufacturing of precision aspheric, diffractive, and nonformal optics.
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From page 24... ...
Participation in the DARPA-sponsored Precision Laser Machining Consortium should be extended to other optically assisted manufacturing areas by establishing a test facility as a service center. Manufacturing of Optical Components and Systems The optical fabrication industry is fractionated, with each company generally being quite specialized.
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From page 25... ...
Multiple agencies should form a working group to support optics as a crosscutting initiative similar to the recent initiative in high-performance computing and communications systems. Materials advances have been an i ntegral part of the progress i n optical devices and systems, from the demonstration of the first laser to the invention and installation of low-loss optical fiber.
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From page 26... ...
Examples of research and education opportunities include fundamental research on atomic, molecular, and quantum optics; femtosecond optics, sources, and applications; solid-state laser sources and applications; and extreme ultraviolet and soft x-ray optics. Universities should encourage multidisciplinarity in optics education, cutting across departmental boundaries, and should provide research opportunities at all levels, from the bachelor's degree to the doctorate and from basic science to applied technology.
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From page 27... ...
Factories will employ optical sensors extensively in the manufacture of everything from textiles to automobiles, and digital cameras will substitute for film in printing and photography. In the electronics industry, which relies on photolithography to create circuit patterns on chips, producing features smaller than 0.1 him will require optical steppers that use soft x-ray or extreme ultraviolet light; optical components for these machines will have unprecedented optical figure and atomlevel surface smoothness.
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From page 28... ...
weapons targeting to the detection of chemical and biological warfare agents. This omnipresence will depend critically on the availability of low-cost optical systems, many of them developed for commercial use; unique military needs for performance and reliability, unmet by the commercial marketplace, will continue to require targeted investments in optics research.
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