6-7:45PM Golden Beer Talks @ Buffalo Rose

Dr. Jeff Squier

Structured light imaging: optical metrology for applications from advanced manufacturing to the biosciences

Ever wonder what your brain and a 3D printer have in common? Answer: They are both difficult to image through using light in the visible spectrum! In this talk, we will walk you through a new optical technology that began as a novel tool being developed for neuroscientists as a non-invasive method for quantifying structure and function in the brain. Not surprisingly, as we developed this instrument, we discovered other applications for this metrology which in this case involved advanced manufacturing: using high-average power lasers to 3D print metal structures.

A challenge in imaging inside the brain is that the optical signals used to measure the dynamic function of interest to the biologist/neuroscientist is that the optical signals get scattered by the tissue, obscuring the measurement. This new tool can make measurements, even when the optical signals are highly scattered! Similarly, in a laser metal 3D printer, the interaction of the melting metal and laser results in a highly scattering environment: it is desirable to be able to “look-inside” this interaction volume in real-time to understand the physics of the light-matter interaction and watch for the conditions that could results in defects when printing a metal part. Using “structured light” not only can we meet the challenges in these scattering environments, but we can also achieve a spatial definition that exceeds classical limits (i.e., our images resolve small features better than can be achieved with a standard microscope)!

Finally classical images treat light as a wave phenomenon, but we are now in the era of quantum imaging – what happens when we roll quantum effects into our imaging system? We will describe how quantum data is changing the way we think about imaging, and what it means for our imaging capability….

Featured Speaker

Jeff Squier is a Mines Distinguished Professor, in the Department of Physics where he has been faculty for 23 years. His research interests include the development of femtosecond laser sources and the application of these lasers to micromachining, and optical metrology in general.