Optical Technology Optifab '07 Focus

Optifab is the largest optical manufacturing product and supplier exhibition held in the US. With a unique technical focus on classical and advanced optical manufacturing technologies, Optifab 2007 will include commercial presentations, technical papers, the latest research results and product breakthroughs when it takes place May 14-17 at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center.

Optifab attracts buyers from around the world, and Rochester is one of the the highest ranked areas for growth in the photonics industry arena. The Rochester-Ithaca-Corning triangle is rich with companies involved in high-tech, light-driven technologies, including Xerox, Eastman Kodak, Bausch & Lomb, and Corning, making Optifab a "must-attend" event for optical fabricators, according to event cosponsor SPIE (the International Society for Optical Engineering).

Optifab showcases all aspects of optical manufacturing technology, including operations, machines, tools, materials, instrumentation, metrology and processes. It includes a conference, exhibition, courses, poster sessions and technical paper presentations on key areas of optical manufacturing, including:

Design for manufacturing — Design considerations for manufacturability including material choice, error budgets, tolerances, mounting, assembly, and testing.
Materials and optical material sciences — Optical glasses, crystals, infrared materials, ultraviolet materials, and plastics.
Classical and automated fabrication — Highlighting computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) and software for the optical industry.
Grinding, polishing, and new methods of surface finishing — Loose and bound abrasive, diamond turning, ion figuring, water-jet cutting and removal processes, and subaperture lap polishing.
Process science — Materials, abrasives, coolants, tooling, for grinding and polishing that are selected for cost reduction and flow optimization.
Injection molding, glass molding, lithographic processing and chemical etching.
New developments in coatings technology — Advanced approaches for all types of optical coatings on glass, metal, plastics and crystalline materials.
New developments in metrology, including all forms of interferometry, MTF measurement, ellipsometry, scatterometry, and surface/subsurface metrology.
Optomechanical design and fabrication.
Interactivity and data interfaces between optical design programs, mechanical design programs, fabrication equipment and metrology instrumentation.

The latest products and services from more than 175 exhibitors will also be featured from May 15-17, including: Optical fabrication equipment; optical components, materials, and systems; optomechanical components/devices; laser system components; optical thin-film coatings; optical metrology and testing equipment; cleanroom equipment; and software, adhesives, glass and consumables.

Optifab 2007 is cosponsored by the American Precision Optics Manufacturers Association (APOMA). For more information, visit: http://spie.org/conferences/programs/07/ofb/