Seminars

Seminars occur on Thursday afternoons in SCI 242 and run between 1:30-2:30 PM Pacific with a hybrid option over Zoom unless otherwise posted. Contact Dr. Christopher Smallwood at christopher.smallwood@sjsu.edu for remote participation access links.

Next Week

Fourier Optics and Its Real World Applications
Khoa Nguyen (Apple Inc.)
Thursday, 4/6/2023, 1:30-2:30pm Pacific

Abstract: In this talk, we will discuss the fundamentals of Fourier Optics in which we will investigate how light naturally performs Fourier Transform when it interacts with different optical elements, such as lenses, phase plates, and liquid crystal devices. In the second half of the talk, we will focus on the several real-world applications of Fourier Optics. We will study the optics principles behind some of the most popular applications today. One of them is LIDAR, Light Detection and Ranging, which is used in many self-driving/autonomous vehicle technology platforms. Another application is 3D sensing which is founded in various consumer products such as XBOX Kinect, and mobile face scanner. Lastly, we will discuss futuristic aspects of Fourier Optics in the context of optical computing. Computing with photon is blazing fast and energy efficient but it is application specific. Optical computing  has recently found its way into A.I. hardware accelerators and  DNA sequencing.

Bio: Khoa Nguyen is currently a Display and Optics Engineer at Apple Inc. He graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Physics from Cal State East Bay in 2008. Then, he graduated with a Master Degree in Physics from San Jose State University in 2012. He worked at Google as an optics engineer from 2013 to 2021. His work has always focused on optics and its real-world applications.

Spring 2023 Schedule