<p> X-ray computed tomography (CT)&mdash;more commonly known as CAT scan&mdash;has recently evolved from the world of medical imaging and nondestructive evaluation to the field of dimensional metrology; the CT technique can now be used to measure a specimen&rsquo;s geometrical dimensions (of both internal and external features). As a result, CT presently contributes to the areas of dimensional inspection and geometric analysis for technology companies that produce manufactured parts for a variety of industries such as automotive, aerospace, medical devices, electronics, metalworking, injection molding plastics, composite materials, ceramics, and 3D printing or additive manufacturing. While dimensional accuracy is not crucial for medical diagnoses or other qualitative analyses, accurate dimensional quantification is the essence of X-ray CT metrology. Despite increasing advances in this technology, the current state of the art of CT metrology still confronts challenges when trying to estimate measurement uncertainties, mainly due to the plethora of influencing factors contributing to the CT measurement process. Gradual progress has occurred over the last decade toward a better understanding of some of these influencing factors that were illuminated by a series of collaborative research initiatives between a collective of several universities and institutions (predominantly located in the European Union) committed to the advancement and development of industrial CT scanning as a measuring technology. In an effort to further understand phenomenologically the role of variables affecting the precision and accuracy of CT dimensional measurements, this dissertation presents a series of experimental studies that evaluate the performance of cone-beam CT measurements, and their uncertainty estimates, in comparison with reference measurements generally obtained from tactile coordinate measurement machines (CMMs). In some cases, the results are contrasted against simulations performed in Matlab software (to compute fan-beam projection data) and an additional simulation tool called &ldquo;Dreamcaster&rdquo; (for ray casting and Radon-space analysis). The main CT variables investigated were: temperature in the X-ray CT enclosure, number of projections for a CT scan, workpiece tilt orientation, sample magnification, material thickness influences, software post-filtration, threshold determination, and measurement strategies. For dimensions of geometric features ranging from 0.5 mm to 65 mm, a comparison between dimensional CT and CMM measurements, performed at optimized conditions, typically resulted in differences of approximately 5 &micro;m or less for data associated with dimensional lengths (length, width, height, and diameters) and around 5 to 50 &micro;m for data associated with measurements of form, while expanded uncertainties computed for the CT measurements ranged from 1 to over 50 &micro;m. Methods for estimating measurement uncertainty of CT scanning are also assessed in this work. Special attention is paid to the current state of measurement comparisons (in the field of dimensional X-ray CT) by presenting a comprehensive study of metrics used for proficiency testing, including rigorous tests of statistical consistency (null-hypothesis testing) performed with Monte Carlo simulation, and particularly applied to results from two recent CT interlaboratory comparisons. This latter study contributes to the knowledge of methods for performance assessment in measurement comparisons. In particular, it is shown that the use of the En-metric in the current state of CT interlaboratory comparisons could be difficult to interpret when used to evaluate performance and/or statistical consistency of CT measurement sets.</p><p>

<p> The work of this thesis is devoted to examining the impact of silicon dioxide (silica or SiO₂) planarization on the optical properties and laser damage resistance of thin-film coatings. SiO₂ planarization is a process to smooth out fluence limiting nodular defects within multilayer coatings for high-energy laser applications. Mitigating these defects will improve the power handling abilities and improve the lifetime of laser coatings. </p><p> Presented here is a combination of work with the aim of evaluating the optical and laser damage properties of SiO₂ planarization within single layers, bilayers, and multilayers. As compared to control (non-planarized) samples, a 2&ndash;3x increase in the thin-film absorption, which decreases with post-process annealing, was discovered for SiO₂ planarized samples. This suggests that planarization creates oxygen-related defects which can be annealed out and little impurity implantation. Investigations of laser damage resistance were carried out at &lambda; = 1030nm and pulse durations of &tau; = 220ps and 9ps. The laser damage of single and bilayer coatings is known to be dependent on the substrate-coating interface and this is further evidenced within this thesis. This is because the effects of planarization are masked by the extrinsic laser damage processes within the single and bilayers. Slight change (&lt; 15%) in the laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) at 220ps and 9ps was observed for planarized single and bilayers. Depending on coating design, post-process annealing was shown to increase the LIDT by ~10% to ~75% at 220ps and ~10% to ~45% at 9ps. Although the fused silica substrate surface LIDT was shown to follow the &radic;&tau; pulse scaling law for pulses above ~10ps, the single and bilayer coatings do not follow this pulse scaling. The divergence from the &radic;&tau; pulse scaling on the coatings suggests a variation in the laser damage initiation mechanisms between 220ps and 9ps. </p><p> Multilayer high-reflecting (HR) mirrors with varying planarization design were also damage tested. A 6&ndash;7 J/cm² LIDT, with 220ps, was observed for HR coatings with SiO₂ planarization layers within high electric-field areas within the coating. However, SiO₂ planarization at the substrate-coating interface, where the electric-field is minimal, and control (non-planarized) was shown to have a LIDT of 63 &plusmn; 1.2 J/cm² and 21.5 &plusmn; 0.5 J/cm² for 220ps, respectively. At 9ps, the LIDT varied less than 90% difference between the various planarization designs. The substrate-coating planarization multilayer and control coating had an equal LIDT of 9.6 &plusmn; .3 J/cm² at 9ps.</p><p>

Photonic crystals (PCs) and binary supergratings (BSGs) with large refractive index steps are promising structures for designing new compact optical devices. This thesis presents an inverse design tool in these two important areas of photonics. The tool consists of an optimization module and a simulation engine. Due to the binary nature of PCs and BSGs, Boolean particle swarm optimization (Boolean PSO), a recently proposed binary stochastic optimization algorithm, is used in the optimization module. The simulation engine, on the other hand, is chosen according to the structure to be modeled. The proposed inverse design tool has been used to design a very low F-number photonic crystal lens and compact BSG filters for applications such as wavelength-division multiplexing, tunable lasers and intrachip optical networks. The inverse design tool allows designing optical filters with almost arbitrary wavelength filtering, in addition the proposed filters are more compact than previous demonstrations of BSG. Furthermore, it is found that Boolean PSO outperforms Genetic Algorithm (GA) as an optimization technique for use in the inverse design tool developed in this thesis.

In the last decade, adaptive optics systems have been implemented on all the major ground based telescopes and have proven reliable tools for correcting the image to near the diffraction limit. However, the correction from these systems is limited to a narrow field of view. This dissertation address the challenges of widening the corrected field of single conjugate adaptive optics by properly using statistical information on the optical turbulence profile of the atmosphere above the telescope, and by optimizing the trade-off between image quality and field of view. Altair is the facility adaptive optics system for the 8-meter Gemini North telescope and marks the historical beginning of wide field adaptive optics. Its performance evaluation in Part One is the first on-sky comparison of sparse field images from an altitude-conjugated and a ground-conjugated deformable mirror. All of the other basic aspects of Altair's performance are characterized for use by the Gemini community to plan observations. We also study and report. on techniques for extrapolating the edge of the deformable mirror, a critical step in altitude-conjugated mode. In Part Two we develop a point spread function model for Ground Layer Adaptive Optics (GLAO) that is based on analytic forms of the phase power spectral density. This model has been used for feasibility studies of GLAO on Gemini, and the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), currently the most advanced extremely large telescope project. The TMT will be an adaptive telescope that has science goals for the huge 81 square arcminute field of the Wide Field Optical Spectrograph (WFOS). We will show that WFOS-GLAO provides useful gains and will operate in the very wide GLAO (VWGLAO) regime, which has no additional overhead for seeing improved operation. To identify the VWGLAO regime we use statistical turbulence profile models and examine anisoplanatism in terms of image quality metrics relevant to the science that GLAO will likely assist. The VWGLAO regime is where there are useful gains over the theoretical seeing limit for wide field science that measure data collection efficiency as proportional to the product of image quality and the field of view (solid angle). We also show that for many cases VWGLAO will not be impacted by lag anisoplanatism nor by wavefront sensor noise.

The current state of a prototype fan-beam optical computed tomography scanner for three-dimensional radiation dosimetry has been presented. The system uses a helium-neon laser and a line-generating lens for fan-beam creation. Five photodiode arrays form an approximate arc detector array of 320-elements. Two options of physical collimators provide two levels of scatter-rejection: single-slot (SS) and multi-hole (MH). A pair of linear polarizers has been introduced as a means of light intensity modulation. This work examined: (i) the characterization of system components, (ii) data acquisition & imaging protocols, and (iii) the scanning of an nPAG dosimeter. (i): The polarizer-pair method of light intensity modulation has been calibrated and the polarization sensitivity of the detector array was evaluated. The relationship between detected values and both light intensity and photodiode integration time was examined. This examination indicated the need for an offset correction to treat all data acquired by the system. Data corruption near the edges of each photodiode array was found to cause ring artefacts in image reconstructions. Two methods of extending the dynamic range of the system---via integration time and light intensity---were presented. The use of master absorbent solutions and spectrophotometric data allowed for the preparation of absorption-based and scatter-based samples of known opacities. This ability allowed for the evaluation of the relative scatter-rejection capabilities of the system's two collimators. The MH collimator accurately measured highly-attenuating solutions of both absorption-based and scatter-based agents. The SS collimator experienced some contamination by scattered light with absorption-based agents, and significant contamination with scatter-based agents. Also, using the SS collimator, a `spiking' artefact was observed in highly-attenuating samples of both solution types. (ii): A change in imaging protocol has been described that greatly reduces ring artefacts that plagued the system previously. Scanning parameters related to the reference scan (Io) and data acquisition were evaluated with respect to image noise. Variations in flask imperfections were found to be a significant source of noise. (iii): An nPAG dosimeter was prepared, planned for, irradiated, and imaged using the fan-beam system. In addition to ring artefacts caused by data-corruption, refractive inhomogeneities and particulates in the gelatin were found to cause errors in image reconstructions. Otherwise, contour and percent depth dose comparisons between measured and expected values showed good agreement. Findings have indicated that significant imaging gains may be achieved by performing pre-irradiation and post-irradiation scans of dosimeters.

Time-resolved Faraday rotation (TRFR) is a pulsed laser pump/probe optical measurement used to characterize electron spin dynamics in semiconductor materials. A Mach-Zehnder type interferometer with orthogonally polarized arms is presented as a device for TRFR measurement that is superior to optical bridge detection, the traditional measuring technique, since Faraday rotation can be passively optically amplified via interference. Operation of the interferometer is analyzed under ideal conditions. Corrections to the ideal case stemming from imperfectly aligned optics, finite polarization extinction ratios, and an imperfect recombination optic are analyzed using a matrix transformation approach. The design of the interferometer is presented and chronicled. A description of the single-beam active control system utilized to stabilize the interferometer by continuous corrections to the optical path length of one arm with a piezoelectric actuator is given. Optical amplification by increasing the power in either arm of the interferometer is demonstrated and TRFR measurements taken with the interferometer at ambient temperatures are compared with measurements taken with the optical bridge. We find the interferometer to offer a detection limit on the order of 50 mrad at room temperature, which is five times more sensitive than the optical bridge. Isolation and stabilization of the interferometer were also successful in reducing signal noise to a level comparable with the optical bridge. Our results demonstrate that the interferometer is a better detection device for Faraday rotation under ambient conditions. In the immediate future, improvements to the control system should be made and experiments should be performed with high-quality samples at cryogenic temperatures to confirm that the interferometer performs as favorably under those conditions.

Time-resolved Faraday rotation (TRFR) is a pulsed laser pump/probe optical measurement used to characterize electron spin dynamics in semiconductor materials. A Mach-Zehnder type interferometer with orthogonally polarized arms is presented as a device for TRFR measurement that is superior to optical bridge detection, the traditional measuring technique, since Faraday rotation can be passively optically amplified via interference. Operation of the interferometer is analyzed under ideal conditions. Corrections to the ideal case stemming from imperfectly aligned optics, finite polarization extinction ratios, and an imperfect recombination optic are analyzed using a matrix transformation approach. The design of the interferometer is presented and chronicled. A description of the single-beam active control system utilized to stabilize the interferometer by continuous corrections to the optical path length of one arm with a piezoelectric actuator is given. Optical amplification by increasing the power in either arm of the interferometer is demonstrated and TRFR measurements taken with the interferometer at ambient temperatures are compared with measurements taken with the optical bridge. We find the interferometer to offer a detection limit on the order of 50 mrad at room temperature, which is five times more sensitive than the optical bridge. Isolation and stabilization of the interferometer were also successful in reducing signal noise to a level comparable with the optical bridge. Our results demonstrate that the interferometer is a better detection device for Faraday rotation under ambient conditions. In the immediate future, improvements to the control system should be made and experiments should be performed with high-quality samples at cryogenic temperatures to confirm that the interferometer performs as favorably under those conditions.