Program
Director: Dr. John Dimmock
Location: 300-E Optics Building
Telephone: (256) 824-6616
FAX: (256) 824-6618
E-mail: dimmockj@email.uah.edu
The Program
Optics stands today as an area of major scientific and technological importance. It is not only an enabling technology for multi-discipline work, but is also widely recognized as a discipline in its own right. Optics is central in communication technology, information processing, storage, and display as well as in health care and life sciences, remote sensing, national defense and industrial manufacturing. For those students wishing to major in optics, a Ph.D. program in Optical Science and Engineering (OSE) was established at UAH in 1992. This unique program is multi-disciplinary and begins with a core of basic optics, followed by a wide variety of advanced course work and research in both fundamental and applied subjects. The program spans great diversity as it moves from the fundamental physics of light and its interaction with matter to the design and development of new optical systems for a wide variety of applications such as optical computing & communications, and space-based telescopes.
Most research in optics is housed in the four-story $10.6 million Optics Building (completed in 1991). The inner core (on its own separate foundation) contains all laboratory facilities and equipment. This core is surrounded by an outer perimeter of faculty and staff offices. In addition to the resources of the academic departments, the OSE program has access to, and utilizes the resources of the Center for Applied Optics (CAO) on the UAH campus, the National Space Science and Technology Center, and the Marshall Space Flight Center at the US Army Redstone Arsenal.
Because students will come into this program with strong but diverse undergraduate and graduate training, the multi-disciplinary curriculum has been structured on a common basis for all entering students, but will compensate for individual differences and provide depth in specific areas. A total of 48 semester hours of graduate course work and a minimum of 18 semester hours of dissertation research are required. The student will complete three study phases, punctuated by three program examinations, which include the Preliminary Examination, the Qualifying Examination, and the Final Examination. In addition, all requirements of the School of Graduate Studies must be met to remain in good standing.
Graduate assistantships are available to qualified students. Employment prospects upon completion of the OSE program are excellent. Most graduates have job offers prior to their formal graduation.
Admission Requirements
In order to be unconditionally admitted to the doctoral program, a student must have satisfied the following set of requirements: a) bachelor's degree, or its equivalent, from an accredited college or university, in one of the physical sciences or engineering, with an overall grade point average of 3.0 or better on a 4.0 scale; b) a minimum score of 1600 on the combined verbal, quantitative, and analytical sections of the Graduate Record Examination; c) a TOEFL score greater than 550, in the case of international students whose native language is not English; and d) three letters of reference.
Students in the field must have a broad background of basic knowledge, which is normally acquired by taking the six core courses summarized below. Because of the anticipated diversity of backgrounds of entering students, a rigid list of required prerequisite courses is inappropriate. Instead, the optics faculty will steer students into appropriate courses on the basis of the background evaluation given them upon admission. The required six core courses are: Geometrical Optics; Physical Optics; Optical Testing & Lab; Radiometry, Detectors & Sources; Fourier Optics; and Lasers.
