Insider Info

As a youngster, Imelda De La Rue's head was always in the clouds, and for good reason. She hoped one day to become an astronomer. Her love of the planets and stars carried her to university, where she began studying physics in the hopes of fulfilling her celestial dreams.

But her plans changed after a class in physics. "As I progressed through my coursework, I realized my real interest and love was for the instrumentation that astronomers use, such as telescopes and cameras or detectors," she says. Instead, De La Rue graduated with a degree in electrical engineering with an emphasis in electro-optics.

"I have an appreciation and respect for what nature has given us, and I want to learn more about it," says De La Rue. The laws of physics, she explains, define how the eyes see and what they see. She studies how light will bend when it goes through a lens, and how it may be distorted.

"I am fascinated by how lenses and mirrors can be arranged in such a fashion as to reduce unwanted effects and produce images of good quality," explains De La Rue. And these are the problems that an optical engineer solves by setting up and conducting lab experiments.

Now, because of De La Rue and her colleagues, astronomers are using adaptive optics (AO). This means that astronomers can now see deeper into space than before. Thus, they gather more information about the universe we live in. In a sense, optical engineers are opening our eyes to a more complex world.

Optical engineer Dick Johnson started in the field when the laser was first invented. "I thought that sounded so interesting that I decided to pursue engineering, and particularly physics and optics, in college," says Johnson. He has worked in the field for over 30 years, and he now owns his own optical engineering consulting company.

The laser has changed the way we treat the sick (laser surgery) and the way we shop for groceries (the scanners at checkout).

The work of an optical engineer is varied. It can include basic research or product design. "I have worked on projects ranging from billion-dollar missile tracking systems to toys that project images of planets and stars on to the walls of a room for use as background in a room-sized video game," says Johnson.

Perhaps the best part of the job is taking pieces and parts and building them to make a product. To have that knowledge and to share it is exhilarating, says Johnson.

Gregory Pierce did not become interested in optical engineering until later in life, when he was working at the Institute of Optics in Rochester.

"One hot summer day, I was looking at the spectral lines of a neon glow lamp with a spectrophotometer in a dark lab. The colors were beautiful. I wondered how anyone could not want to do this," remembers Pierce.

Before working at the lab, Pierce hadn't been exposed to this particular field at all. But he soon found himself making holograms and experimenting with fiber optics. Shortly after, he took a job at a computer manufacturer, where he fine-tuned new display technologies.

Once this job ended, he went back to the Institute of Optics. He is keeping his eyes open for a job in the industry again, rather than with a university.

By working with optics, the physics of light, you will understand such simple things as why we see rainbows. Pierce explains: "If we take a prism, a piece of glass that is shaped like a triangle, and put it in the sunlight and rotate it, we will find some light is reflected and some is transmitted. However, the sunlight that is transmitted is now split into a variety of colors like a rainbow.

"This is refraction or bending of the light. This is the reason we see rainbows. Light is refracted by the raindrops and the colors in the sunlight are spread out."

With this knowledge, you can also contribute to very important technologically advanced projects. Pierce says optical engineers work on reverse engineering problems. That is, they try to understand how a system is operating. Once they find out, they can make a better product.

Pierce says optical engineers also redesign existing products for more durability, functionality or efficiency. "The Hubble Space Telescope was this type of problem. It was providing images that weren't acceptable," he says.

"After looking at the design and the problem, a corrective lens was designed, manufactured and put in the imaging system. Now, it is giving exciting images and information to scientists."

Optical engineers will solve new design problems. That is, these professionals try to find an optical solution to an existing problem.

Optical engineers also have a responsibility to humanity. "Our eyes are the primary sensory organ for interacting with our environment. Optics provides methods for enhancing and protecting them," says Pierce.

Before optical engineers, pictures of space were not clear. Zoom lenses were not used on cameras. IMAX did not exist. Cashiers keyed in price information rather than scanning it. Optical engineers have done positive things for the world.

Although Alex Quaglia has worked on a few inventions of his own, he says that not all optical engineers' work is good. In fact, some inventions can be downright harmful.

"Many of the guided missiles and other weapons are designed with optical [visible or infrared] vision systems. It is always difficult to work on a device that will destroy a complete city."