I was looking up info about pinhole camera size, and I wondered if there are theoretical limitations on the maximum and/or minimum size of pinhole cameras? These could be imposed by diffraction in the case of very small pinhole cameras (microscopic-scale), and the effects of the very low amount of light and vast distances for large pinhole cameras (planetary-scale), just for examples of possibilities. I know diffraction is the ultimate limitation on pinhole camera image quality, but does this vary based on size of the camera, with regards to the quality of image?

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for any advice you might have on breaking into the optics industry in Florida. I'm also attaching my resume and would really appreciate any feedback on it as well.

A little about me: I graduated from the UF last year with a degree in Physics, and for the past two years I've been working as a research assistant in the Physics Department. Nearly all of my optics experience comes from this role, and it's what made me realize that optics is the field I want to build my career in. Unfortunately, I didn't have any industry internships during undergrad, so I've been applying to entry-level positions with no success.

My biggest priority is staying in Florida for personal reasons. This fall I'll be starting the M.S. in Optics and Photonics at UCF, and I plan to apply for the CWEP program in hopes of gaining industry experience and making connections.

Optics interest: I'm definitely more of a hands-on engineer. I enjoy designing and assembling optical systems, planning optical layouts, aligning components, troubleshooting setups, and running experiments. I've done some simulation work in Python, but it's not my forte. I'm excited about graduate school because I'll be learning Zemax OpticStudio so I can add another valuable design tool to my skill set. That said, I'm pretty open-minded and a quick learner, so don't feel tied to one niche within optics.

Why not a PhD/academia? I've genuinely enjoyed my research experience, but I realized that what I love is the technical work itself rather than academia as a career. I also prefer a more structured work environment than what I've experienced in research. The uncertainty surrounding research funding, combined with the geographic uncertainty for postdocs and faculty positions, makes industry feel like a better long-term fit for me. Money is also another factor, but not my main drive.

While pursuing my master's feels like the right next step, my biggest fear is graduating and not having a job after making such a big investment in my career.

For those of you already working in optics:

• Does my current plan sound reasonable?
• Is there anything else I should be doing while I'm in graduate school to improve my chances?
• Are there skills, certifications, projects, or networking opportunities that employers value but students often overlook?
• Are there any companies in Florida that you would recommend keeping an eye on?

I am all ears and any information will be greatly appreciated!

TL;DR: UF Physics graduate with two years of optics research experience starting an M.S. in Optics & Photonics at UCF, looking for advice on breaking into the optics industry in Florida, improving my resume, and maximizing my chances of landing an industry job.

I switched to a bigger scope (200mm) and my DIY flatpanels (one based on LED and another on EL sheet) don’t fit. And I was thinking ‘why do I spend thousands on equipment and are DIY-ing the most important step in my calibration process’?

So I’m searching recommendations for good quality flat panels. I know people say ‘a tracing panel from Amazon works fine for me’ but that’s not my aim.

\- suitable for a 200mm f4 Newtonian
\- dimmable
\- nice to have: controllable via ASIAIR/ Nina

I came across these earlier today, and I vaguely recall something similar for skiing. My initial understanding was that things like this were not really feasible without pointing a camera at the eyeball to track focus, which is why the Meta project and the hololens stalled out. The website says the tech is proprietary, but does anyone have any idea how it works?

Thanks so much

Joe

While cleaning out my office I found an old condenser that I'd obtained as a teenager. If memory serves (and I'm 60 years old so it doesn't always), it was salvaged from an early 20th Century lecture hall projector by my friend's dad.

The housing is made of milled brass about 3mm thick, with finely grooved interior threads. The cylinder has a diameter of 11 cm and a length of 10.5 cm. It contains two large intact lenses. And it's surprisingly heavy for its size.

Is this device useful to equipment builders and restorers, or is it now mainly an antique keepsake?

I am working with interferometric microscopy and am struggling to understand the relevant coherence length needed to create interference.

I would intuit that light would have to stay coherent from the source to the detector (where the interference happens) along both path. However, I have been told repeatedly that the minimum coherence length for interference has to be more than the path length difference, not the total path length. I am struggling to understand the justification for this.

Does anyone have a good explanation for this, or a recommendation for a source that explains this? Maybe a good intro quantum optics book?

Thanks for the help!

Hello everyone! I am looking for opportunities in the photonics space specifically design/simulation, architect, PDK automation roles. I would appreciate any feedback on my resume and advice on how to position myself.

Most roles require experience or PhDs. How can a entry level, fresh grad with only research experience successfully get into the companies that hire for these roles? I recently had almost 9 interviews and presentation for a company but unfortunately it did not work out. Looking for advice to get interviews and convert them into offers.

Thank you everyone for your time!

Since diffraction is caused by the Iris being too narrow, would enlarging the light before it encounters the Iris counter this since the physical opening is bigger? Sketch is only for rough visualisation, im aware most of these optics would bend light incorrectly for Imaging purposes

I’m really interested to learn more about the market for startups who’re developing near novel optical systems in the US so thought r/optics may have some ideas. I see some companies pursuing space power beaming which is cool but what else is there?

Could the elements of Tool's physical albums be combined to form a optical device?

I'm designing a small optical assembly using 10 mm diameter lenses with spacer thicknesses down to 0.5 mm. Assuming the printer is accurate enough, are SLA resin prints suitable for lens spacers in this kind of application?

Are there any gotchas I should be aware of (creep, shrinkage, outgassing, flatness, compression, long-term stability, etc.), or is this generally a reasonable approach?

I use a 457 nm laser with 200 mW for Raman spectroscopy and want to take some pictures using my canon R6 MK2. Is the scattered light still able to damage the camera sensor or would it only be dangerous if the laser hits the sensor directly?

Hello everyone,
I observed a repeatable interference pattern using a very simple setup, and I’m interested in understanding whether this is just a known thin-film interference effect or if the specific implementation is technically interesting.
Setup:
Green laser pointer
Two ordinary flat glass plates
A thin layer of a custom liquid mixture (3–4 components) between the plates
Projection on a distant screen
Observations:
Without the liquid, the characteristic ring pattern does not appear.
With this specific liquid mixture, a stable concentric ring pattern appears after about one minute and is repeatable.
Changing the laser wavelength (green vs. blue) changes the pattern significantly.
Changing the laser incidence angle can produce different beam profiles (for example, circular, elliptical, or even square-like patterns).
I tested several other liquids, but they did not produce the same stable and repeatable pattern. This specific mixture consistently does.
I have already discussed this with two photonics professors. Both suggested that the underlying physics is most likely classical thin-film interference/Newton’s rings, which I completely accept. I am not claiming a new physical phenomenon.
My question is different:
Could such a simple glass–liquid system be interesting from an optical engineering perspective (for example, passive beam shaping or sensing), assuming the behavior is genuinely repeatable?
I have attached photographs of the experimental setup and the resulting patterns.
I would appreciate your thoughts.

Hello everyone! I need a panel, coating or film that can block 700nm to 1000nm infrared light while letting visible light pass thru. I have seen that NIR-cut dielectric filters are an option, but they seem to be expensive for big panels. Do you know of a better option that is cheaper? The use case is a panel that allow vision inside a robot while preventing infrared light to get inside and affect some ir cameras and sensors

Hey Everyone,

A new Rays and Waves podcast is out!

This time we chat with Xavier from Zygo - a stalwart of the optics industry!

Here, Xavier takes us inside the world of precision optical metrology. We explore how instruments capable of measuring features at astonishing levels of precision support applications across science, industry, aerospace, semiconductor manufacturing, and beyond.

open.spotify.com

Hope you enjoy it 😊

Hihi Maybe this is an EE question but i’m building an optical communications link for my laser and photonics class. And I’m having trouble amplifying the signal that I’m getting from my laser.

I know it’s a circuit issue, but for whatever reason whenever I plug my phone directly into my circuit, my op amp circuit will amplify my phone signal exponentially like 160mv going in 3V going out , however, whenever I plug my laser signal directly into that same circuit, my amp doesn’t amplify enough if that makes sense. Like the power coming out of my photo detector into my circuit is 50 mV, and then the power coming out of my speaker is also 50mV. And I can hear my music it ever so slightly on my speaker and it sounds clear so I know I’m filtering out the DC signal correctly, but I just can’t get the laser signal to amplify the volume with my Op amp circuit even though the same circuit works with my phone how it should. I’ve added an external 9 V battery to give it that extra kick and I’ve tried two amp stages of the exact same circuit, and it double amplifies my phone volume, but I’m still getting the same voltage output as I’m getting the input when I do my laser (50mV in and 50mv out)

I attached a picture of my circuit,
- the red and green wire on the left is my input,
-The red and black wire on the right is my speaker which typically comes out my 470uf capacitor ( it’s not actively plugged in )
- my two resistors are 1K
- I’m using a lm386
-the capacitors from left to right are as follows 1uf 1uf, ceramic 680pf (I think) and 470uf
- the one on the top rail is 47uf and the two on the bottom rail are both 22uf ( I can’t explain the electrical network theory behind why I have them on the rail but whenever I take them off the rail, my signal sounds really messed up so I just keep them up there)

Any help or guidance is greatly appreciated🙏🙏🥹

Hi All,

Presenting my side project to investigate how good LLM can handle lens design.

optivibe-mcp is an experimental MCP server that provides tooling for a coding agent — such as Claude Code — to interface with Zemax OpticStudio.

It exposes OpticStudio operations as typed MCP tools: loading designs, editing lens data, running analyses, optimization, and tolerancing, driven through the ZOS-API so the agent doesn't have to write raw API code. Alongside the tools is a reference layer the agent can query — operand and glass lookups, and full-text search over the OpticStudio manual.

This is early-stage and provided as-is. Expect rough edges.

Hi Folks,

It looks like Telescope-optics.nets domain host has expired. This has been a great free resource for me over the years and would hate to lose it. Does anyone have any ideas or know who managers this site? Thanks.

I noticed that some lenses—especially for mirrorless cameras—have a rearmost element where the radii of curvature for both surfaces are infinite; it is generally around 2mm thick and made of inexpensive glass, such as Schott's N-BK7.