Daily News Briefs

James C. Wyant, director of the University of Arizona Optical Sciences Center (OSC), received the 2003 Gold Medal from the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE) at its 48th annual meeting recently. The award recognizes Wyant's contributions to interferometry and optical testing, his enthusiasm for teaching optics and his contributions to SPIE. James B. Breckinridge, a technologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., received SPIE's 2003 George W. Goddard Award for his work and leadership in space optical instrumentation and systems technology. Jack D. Gaskill, a professor emeritus at the OSC, received SPIE's 2003 Director’s Award. President of SPIE in 1994, Gaskill has taught and promoted Fourier optics for more than 30 years and has made numerous contributions to the education of the optical engineering community. . . . Infinite Optics, a manufacturer of thin-film coatings and optics for science, medicine, aerospace and military applications, opened in May in Santa Ana, Calif. The 20-employee company said it welcomes "R&D through high-production challenges" from the ultraviolet to far-infrared. Infinite Optics has 12 refined coating systems using ion-assisted progressive vector diagrams in its 11,000 square-foot facility, which features a class-100 cleanroom. An off-site fabrication facility provides precision optics from glass through exotic infrared materials. The quality and metrology group use industry standard equipment for analysis and certification, and the company employs a CAD design machine engineering group for in-house support of fixturing for customer-supplied components. The company uses instruments including Shimadzu and Bekman spectrophotometers to ensure compliance with spectral requirements, and a Zygo six-inch GPI interferometer and digital video microscope to ensure surface compliance.