Applied Optics Fundamentals and Device Applications: Nano, MOEMS, and Biotechnology (Emerging Technologies in Optical Engineering)

How does the field of optical engineering impact biotechnology?

Perhaps for the first time, Applied Optics Fundamentals and Device Applications: Nano, MOEMS, and Biotechnology answers that question directly by integrating coverage of the many disciplines and applications involved in optical engineering, and then examining their applications in nanobiotechnology. Written by a senior U.S. Army research scientist and pioneer in the field of optical engineering, this book addresses the exponential growth in materials, applications, and cross-functional relevance of the many convergent disciplines making optical engineering possible, including nanotechnology, MEMS, (MOEMS), and biotechnology.

Providing an unprecedented interdisciplinary perspective of optics technology, this book describes everything from core principles and fundamental relationships, to emerging technologies and practical application of devices and systems—including fiber-optic sensors, integrated and electro-optics, and specialized military applications. The author places special emphasis on:

• Fiber sensor systems
• Electro-optics and acousto-optics
• Optical computing and signal processing
• Optical device performance
• Thin film magnetic memory
• MEMS, MOEMS, nano- and bionanotechnologies
• Optical diagnostics and imaging
• Integrated optics
• Design constraints for materials, manufacturing, and application space

Bridging the technology gaps between interrelated fields, this reference is a powerful tool for students, engineers and scientists in the electrical, chemical, mechanical, biological, aerospace, materials, and optics fields. Its value also extends to applied physicists and professionals interested in the relationships between emerging technologies and cross-disciplinary opportunities.

Author Mark A. Mentzer is a pioneer in the field of optical engineering. He is a senior research scientist at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory in Maryland. Much of his current work involves extending the fields of optical engineering and solid state physics into the realm of biochemistry and molecular biology, as well as structured research in biophotonics.

Mark A. Mentzer, Ph.D., is a research scientist at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory. A native of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, he earned his BA in physics and music at Franklin and Marshall College. He received his MSEE and Ph.D. from the University of Delaware in electrical engineering, with emphasis on solid state physics, devices and materials, optoelectronics, and integrated optics. He also received his MAS in business administration from Johns Hopkins University and is currently completing a MS in biotechnology, with emphasis on biochemistry and molecular biology, from the same school (2011).

Dr. Mentzer is the author of nearly 100 publications, 14 provisional and issued patents, two books, and a contributed book chapter. He serves as conference chair for numerous technical proceedings, reviews for several technical journals and publishers, frequently speaks at trade shows and conferences, and has received numerous awards for both technical and managerial excellence. He recently conducted a series of briefs to the National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council, on instrumentation and metrology for the development of personal protective equipment for the military.

His current research involves laser-assisted high-brightness imaging, instrumentation for blast and blunt trauma injury model correlation, fiber-optic ballistic sensing, flash x-ray cineradiography, digital image correlation, image processing algorithms, and applications of MOEMS to nano- and biotechnology.