Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1991. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

The motivation for this research stems from the optical design problem. From a mathematical perspective the problem can be stated as follows: given a starting optical configuration and a set of variable parameters, determine the specific configuration which yields the global minimum of the merit function which represents the imaging quality of the system. Currently, no satisfactory solution to this problem has been found, although a process called "simulated annealing" has shown some potential. The idea behind this research is that perhaps a merit function can be constructed in such a way that information contained in higher order polychromatic aberration coefficients can be used to indicate the region of the global minimum. In pursuit of this, the construction of two physically significant merit functions (the wavefront variance and the mean square ray aberration) is formulated in such a way as to allow the segregation of aberration coefficients by order within the merit function. This suggests a sequence of merit "subfunctions" can be constructed in such a way that each member of the sequence is associated with a particular order of aberration, and that the sequence itself converges to the complete merit function. In order to compute the polychromatic aberration coefficients needed to construct the merit functions, an algorithmic approach to proximate ray tracing is developed. This is shown to be an extension of the original form of proximate ray tracing and has proved highly successful in the computation of polychromatic aberration coefficients. The behavior of three optical systems with respect to their effective design parameters is then investigated. The investigation takes the form of topographic maps of the merit subfunctions. A study of the maps reveals that the global topography of the subfunctions remains relatively invariant with respect to order. Also, any minima present tend to remain relatively stationary with respect to order, although any particular one can slowly migrate within some small region of parameter space.

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Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1987. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-88).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisors: Kristin L. Wood and Joseph J. Beaman. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Integrated optical devices use light to perform circuit functions. One class of devices using Ti indiffused waveguides in LiNb0₃ are investigated in this thesis. The applications studied include series and multibranch interferometers, a comparatorless A/D converter, and a high voltage sensor. An Impedance transformation equation for an exponential line is derived and used to obtain relations for the propagation constant of an optical waveguide with linearly graded index. The results are used to study the effect of a Ta₂O₅ film on the propagation constant of a Ti diffused waveguide. Heating in O₂ of the TA₂0₅ film, loading one arm of the Mach-Zehnder modulator, is shown to tune the modulator. The fabrication of devices in Y-cut LiNb0₃ by Ti diffusion is described. Microscope objectives are used to couple 0.6328 μm light into 4 μm wide waveguides through polished edges. An application of the Mach-Zehnder modulator and a two mode BOA (Bifurcation optique active) modulator to high voltage measurement is discussed. The output Intensity of the series interferometric filter is calculated. Measured results on a two section filter are presented. Also, the output intensity of a multibranch interferometric filter is determined. Experimental results on a three branch filter are included. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of / Graduate

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