Frequency Scatter in Kinetic Inductance Detectors: Improved Analysis Using Pixel-to-Frequency Mapping Setup

Extremely large telescopes (ELTs) are expected to be one of the most promising astronomical observation instruments when it comes to observing exoplanets. During observations, however, Earth’s atmosphere introduces optical distortion, which needs to be corrected. For this reason, a wavefront sensor (WFS) will be developed that comprises a 100 ⇥...

Measurement Uncertainty Analysis of a Twyman-Green Interferometer for Lens Testing

There is a growing demand for precision and high-quality optical objectives and lenses due to their numerous advantages and uses. The market for high precision objective lenses has tremendous potential for development and is a sector that is expanding quickly. <br/><br/>Measuring the aberrations of optical systems is an essential step in the...

Design of an FMCW-LiDAR receiver front-end

This work presents an analog front-end (AFE) signal processing chain for automotive FMCW LiDAR. The AFE consists of a high-gain transimpedance amplifier (TIA) followed by a gain-stage. The gain of the AFE is 103.2dBΩ at a bandwidth of 505MHz. Since the noise of FMCW-LiDAR systems is dominated by the shot noise of the local oscillator (LO), the...

In-situ spectral calibration module for an earth observation satellite

With climate change being a prime source of concern around the world, air pollution is a topic that requires special attention. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to track and measure the emissions in our environment for detecting the sources and understating the climate change so as to figure out possible solutions. Despite ongoing...

Simulation and Optical Analysis of Objects Re-entering Earth’s Atmosphere: On the Detection and Tracking of Meteors and Re-entering Capsules Observed from GEO

Meteors have been observed by accident from geostationary orbit (GEO). It is of interest for surveillance, meteor science and the updating of empirical models to know what instruments are needed on a GEO satellite to observe meteors and re-entering capsules in Earth ‘s atmosphere. A re-entry simulation code is written to fill the gap of missing...

Creation of aspheric interfaces on an electrowetting liquid lens using surface oscillations

A technique to create aspheric surface shapes on commercially available electrowetting liquid lenses is demonstrated. Based on a previously published surface oscillation model a technique using a Hankel transform is proposed and tested experimentally. An alternating actuation voltage is applied to the liquid lens to stimulate surface...

Topology optimization of multicomponent optomechanical systems for improved optical performance

The stringent and conflicting requirements imposed on optomechanical instruments and the ever-increasing need for higher resolution and quality imagery demands a tightly integrated system design approach. Our aim is to drive the thermomechanical design of multiple components through the optical performance of the complete system. To this end,...

Topology Optimization of Optomechanical Systems

The stringent and conflicting requirements of optomechanical instruments and the ever-increasing need for higher resolution and quality imagery demands a tightly integrated design approach. The aim of this study is to drive the thermomechanical design of multiple components of an optomechanical instruments by the system’s optical performance....

Optimum design of freeform-enabled space optical instruments

Nowadays space missions rely heavily on optical payloads to carry out a wide range of tasks including earth observation, weather monitoring, astrophysics research and communications. Until recently, the design of such systems was done according to design principles such as rotational symmetry as it simplifies the theory, reduces technological...

Uncertainty and propagation analysis on DIMITRI

DIMITRI is a tool that has been developed for monitoring the radiometric performance of optical instruments onboard Earth observation satellites. It includes a reflectance model through which a calibration coefficient is computed which is used for performance monitoring. In this thesis, the uncertainty that is associated with this coefficient is...

High sensitivity optical measurement of skin gloss

We demonstrate a low-cost optical method for measuring the gloss properties with improved sensitivity in the low gloss regime, relevant for skin gloss properties. The gloss estimation method is based on, on the one hand, the slope of the intensity gradient in the transition regime between specular and diffuse reflection and on the other on...

Timing optimization utilizing order statistics and multichannel digital silicon photomultipliers

We present an optimization technique utilizing order statistics with a multichannel digital silicon photomultiplier (MD-SiPM) for timing measurements. Accurate timing measurements are required by 3D rangefinding and time-of-flight positron emission tomography, to name a few applications. We have demonstrated the ability of the MD-SiPM to detect...

Narrow-band pass filter array for integrated opto-electronic spectroscopy detectors to assess esophageal tissue

A strategy for spectroscopy tissue diagnosis using a small number of wavelengths is reported. The feasibility to accurately quantify tissue information using only 16 wavelengths is demonstrated with several wavelength reduction simulations of the existing esophageal data set. These results are an important step for the development of a...

Fluorescence lifetime biosensing with DNA microarrays and a CMOS-SPAD imager

Fluorescence lifetime of dye molecules is a sensitive reporter on local microenvironment which is generally independent of fluorophores concentration and can be used as a means of discrimination between molecules with spectrally overlapping emission. It is therefore a potentially powerful multiplexed detection modality in biosensing but requires...