Facilities

The Robert E. Hopkins Center comprises a computer laboratory, two fabrication facilities, and one metrology laboratory.

The computer laboratory has 16 state-of-the-art workstations where students can use a variety of industry-standard optical design and analysis software. This software for optical system design, coating design, and assembly of optical systems is used to support coursework as well as research. 

One fabrication facility is dedicated to conventional fabrication, including grinding and polishing. In support of the conventional fabrication is the Magnetorheological Finishing (MRF) to improve surface figure and roughness of optical components.

The second fabrication facility is focused on complex CNC diamond grinding and shaping using the eSX50 5-axis CNC grinder. In support of the CNC grinder is the UltraForm Finishing (UFF) sub-aperture 5-axis CNC fine grind and finish of optical surfaces including freeform shapes. 

Metrology support for the eSX50 and the UFF is the 5 axis Ultrasurf non-contact optical profilometer for measuring form and figure of ground or polished optical surfaces. Within the metrology lab, there is the Zygo full-field 4inch aperture used to measure flats and spheres. Also, in the metrology lab, there is the  Zygo NewView capable of measuring surface roughness of ground and polished surfaces down to 3 Angstroms. For assessing the performance of lens assemblies, the Optikos LensCheck MTF Bench can be utilized. Lastly, the Abbe Refractometer is available for finding the index of refraction of optical materials.