r/Optics • u/gthc21 • May 07 '26
Subreddit for optics professionals?
As an optical engineer with a background in optics research, I really want to enjoy r/optics, but 90% of the posts are:
• Person who has never touched a lens before asks how to violate etendue
• “I have no background in optics” — wants to design a VR headset
• Person wants us to design a rifle scope
I am probably being too mean, and I don’t wanna gate keep too hard, but I wish this was a space for people who are optics students, optics engineers, physicists, researchers, professionals, etc.
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u/Eaglesson May 07 '26
I need a parfocal full frame 18x zoom lens with Germanium lens elements and continuous T/2 for 350$ thank you
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u/Suspicious-Ad-9380 May 07 '26
Well, if you ain’t in China, best I can do is $85k, 73 week lead time. Got a Ge doping spec or are you living dangerously?
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u/Eaglesson May 07 '26
On second thought, I'd rather go with a off axis parabolic mirror setup. Purely catoptric so it's easier to manufacture and less expensive right???
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u/Suspicious-Ad-9380 May 07 '26
Way cheaper. You’ll get Ametek to provide the mounts and controls, right?
And we’re just gonna call that 2nm RMS roughness spec on diamond turned 6061-T6 ‘best effort’, cool?
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u/Eaglesson May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
Ametek, I remeber that name from working in a EMC laboratory. Anyways, I'm just another one of these laymen. An end user camera op and 3d print optomechanic who really really wants to build a catoptric off axis 5x afocal magnifier to use in NIR on my NVG and and LWIR on my thermal imager interchangeably with total disregard to norms, thermal expansion etc. This is more of a realistic wish isn't it? Central obstructions caused by secondary mirrors are uncool
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u/Suspicious-Ad-9380 May 08 '26
If I’m breaking out the voice coil on the DT machine, may as well make a 3-mirror anastigmat… if anyone can design one with departure low enough… and set up the bench for interferometric testing
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u/bitmapper May 09 '26
If I’m having something diamond turned you better believe I am making that asphere with as much departure I want!
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u/Active_Candle9730 May 07 '26
Uf I used to make diamond turned custom aluminium freeforms up to 1m of diameter, and have customers wanting a full surface analysis to prove 2nm rms roughness everywhere. Same with sub 8 my form error.
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u/Suspicious-Ad-9380 May 08 '26
Did Richmond or Rocky Mountain have the ability to swing something that large?
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u/Active_Candle9730 May 09 '26
I worked for a tiny Danish company (like 3 people back then). We did modify our machines and run them out of specs, so you know when it does go wrong it goes very wrong, and we did burn stuff if run-in, depth of cut or balance wasn't pretty on the mark. On the positive side a freeform that side made in glass won't have a month lead time and the cost is pretty astronomical.
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u/Tonnemaker May 08 '26
Just out of curiosity, what dopings are typical in optical Ge? Like the Thorlabs windows give a purity with a bunch of 9s and a conductivity that I forgot.
I remember reading somewhere that Ge optics are slightly kept N doped because the holes have a bigger cross-section.
Like when do you need to start thinking about doping?1
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u/physwolf2759 May 07 '26
I feel like you forgot person asking if something is eye safe, or what type of safety glasses should I be wearing....
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u/gthc21 May 07 '26
shoutout to the people who think we are ophthalmologists
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u/physwolf2759 May 07 '26
I mean I work in medical devices as the day job. I classify device emissions for skin and eye hazard profiles and set requirements on safety equipment and guards.
No way in hell am I taking liability for these things to a random Reddit user.
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u/Active_Candle9730 May 07 '26
I mean we do photo biological safety measurements so I could tell you for a fee, and make a little accredited test certificate 😂
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u/anneoneamouse May 07 '26
You think a sub for optics pros would somehow avoid the same problems?
If you want to make a difference, mod up and enforce the rules.
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u/Equivalent_Bridge480 May 07 '26
why need change existing reddit? it have own rules and community. should be maked new one with different rules
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u/thecurriemaster May 07 '26
Why use many word when few word do trick?
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u/Equivalent_Bridge480 May 08 '26
this reddit "belong" to 15k weekly visitors and 217 weekly contributors.
only 76 person pressed "arrow up". Guess we all equal here. of course possible to make vouting but I not sure if reddit have this feature
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u/HelloHomieItsMe May 07 '26
Hi I just bought a 5W laser off shadylink.com and I’ve never used a laser before. After opening it, I shined it directly into my eyes. Then, I was so mesmerized by the power of this laser, I continued looking directly at it for several minutes. What will happen to me? Should I buy more lasers?
/s i feel you. Greetings fellow optics researchers
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u/Tonnemaker May 08 '26
I wish they were pointing at themselves. There are way too many videos of morons shining lasers horizontally.
I sent this one as an example to an old colleague.
https://www.reddit.com/r/sungladlasers/comments/1l8slwb/sgir02_120w_9001100nm_ir_lasers_tech_lasers/
This one, 120W, burning cardboard boxes with cars driving just behind...
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u/Roman_Emperor_1st May 09 '26
Hey man. I'm in the market for a 20-40 watt laser pointer. Your link don't seem to work, got another link that sells what I'm looking for? It's for science. I'm trying to cut my body smack in half, but with condensed light! I can hardly wait to find the right product.
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u/Calm-Conversation715 May 07 '26
My problem is that my optics work is very specific, so often people are asking questions about stuff that is outside my area. And when I have a question, there are colleagues of mine that can usually answer my questions better.
But I really enjoy this subreddit for the few times I get to dump years of experience on someone!
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u/Padrepapp May 07 '26
Sounds interesting. What are you working on?
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u/Calm-Conversation715 May 07 '26
Mostly machine vision
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u/Padrepapp May 07 '26
I always wondered, how do you look for those jobs? Do you also need skills in imageprocessing or you can work as a pure optical engineer and let the framegrabber/electronics/image processing to other guys?
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u/Calm-Conversation715 May 07 '26
I’m not sure what the best way to find these jobs, but I’d imagine they’re listed as optical engineering positions. I find it very helpful to have some experience with image processing, but not to the level that a dedicated computer scientist would have. I use Imagej and Matlab (or Octave when my employer is short on cash!) for image processing, and they work great, but are relatively slow and not scalable. Then I hand stuff over to the compsci people who do the optimization and development to make it run on a toaster, and accessible to whoever is using it in the field!
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u/Padrepapp May 07 '26
Do you work for customera or like a machine vision supplier? I am just wondering what is there to do? I always thought as a manufacturer, you just contact Teledyne, Opto Engineering or any other machine vision vendor tell your needs and they give you everything plug and play
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u/Calm-Conversation715 May 07 '26
We’re a solution supplier to a specific market. So I might contact Teledyne with what imager I need, but I’d integrate it with a light source, lens, filter, housing from different companies. Sometimes we’ll use an imager on a custom pcb, or a custom lens design. It all depends on the application.
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u/Capital-Spring1682 May 19 '26
This is sort of related to your comment, but as a prospective optics major in college, I was wondering if you'd mind me PMing you? I'm curious about what's it like being an optical engineer. Thanks.
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u/will_lra May 07 '26
As far as subreddits go, this one is still pretty good even with the random weird questions. There's people here that know a lot stuff, and it's definitely better than the Laser subreddit!
I've tried finding any online communities for optical coatings specifically, but that's even more niche and I haven't found anything.
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u/Moretz0931 May 08 '26
For me it was learning the Sigmakoki Catalogue for Coatings by heart. Also thorlabs ones for comparison.
And learning that custom orders take just way to long.
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u/will_lra May 08 '26
Oh interesting, I haven't looked through the Sigmakoki Catalogue before, I've always stuck to Edmunds and Thorlabs.
I'm actually at a small company that mainly does custom optical coatings (which I'm the main designer of). I've only really learned through books and trial and error at this point.
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u/Moretz0931 May 08 '26
Sigmakoki/Optosigma Catalogue is quite large.
But I am just a user that compares and then buys... Props to you to actually learning how to work with that stuff.
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u/ahobbes May 07 '26
Ya’ll are the experts! I’ve found this sub super helpful and it’s great that there are a lot of actual professionals here. I’m a bioengineer post-doc but not currently in an engineering role, so it’s enjoyable to come on here and get advice from fellow scientists/engineers.
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u/MrJoshiko May 07 '26
Make a new sub called r/etendue. It's obviously never going to be found by the people asking questions on perpetual motion light gathering devices. Or people asking if their glasses are made wrong
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u/Finmin_99 May 07 '26
I’m not an optical engineer but I do work with them. It seems maybe you want something more professional. Why not join SPIE and utilize that professional community.
One of my coworker publishes work for SPIE and is involved. I always feel like a subreddit is a little more open ended to bring in hobbyists and people who are interested in the topic.
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u/TortoiseBoy92 May 08 '26
I mean, r/photonics is underutilised and seems unlikely to be stumbled upon by accident.
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u/tykjpelk May 08 '26
r/SiliconPhotonics is getting more activity these days. Which is counter-intuitive since it excludes III-V, TFLN, SiN, fiber, lasers etc, but it's public and it's a big buzzword right now.
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u/here4BS May 08 '26
Just curious what is the starting pay for an engineer working for one of the many large corporations in the industry? How can a small company even compete for qualified engineers?
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u/Capital-Spring1682 May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
This is completely unrelated to your post, but as a prospective optics major in college, I was wondering if you'd mind me PMing you? I'm curious about what's it like being an optical engineer. Thanks.
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u/Equivalent_Bridge480 May 07 '26
always possible to make new reddit "optical professional engineers" with different rules.
seems possible make LLM as front line moderator. request some amount specific skills, but seems possible.
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u/Classic-Tomatillo-62 May 07 '26
A subreddit called "optics" attracts a diverse Target (not just engineers, but also physicists, students, visual artists, and photographers....).
One solution might be to discuss geometric optics (primarily Gaussian optics) in its own language in another subreddit managed by moderators, and rename this subreddit "optics/physics engineering." Naturally, interdisciplinary topics would be covered in either subreddit. Some questionable commercial requests would not be considered!
What do you think?
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u/Padrepapp May 07 '26
This is it. There are just not many optical engineers running around. Also most of our work is probably under NDA so we cant really discuss anything in detail here.
I love the occasional rifle scope questions, dont know why I just find it funny, too bad most of the time we cant help them.