Challenges

The Optica OIC - Optical Interference Coatings Conference sponsors three challenges in the areas of design, manufacturing and measurement.

Design Challenges

The submission deadline is 23:59 EDT (UTC -04:00) on 14 April 2025. As always, we hope designers will share their design approaches and insights.

This challenge traditionally presents two design problems to the optical thin-film community. The participating designers can use whatever design software or design techniques they prefer in order to meet the specifications called out in the problem statement. Web-based evaluation software will be provided to participants to check their results. An examination of all of the design techniques and submitted solutions provides valuable insights and helps to advance the knowledge base of the optical thin-film community. The design challenge results will be presented at the conference. The designs and associated designer list will be disclosed.

Organizers:
Jennifer Kruschwitz, University of Rochester, USA
Michael Trubetskov, Max-Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Germany, OTF Studio GmbH, Germany

Evaluation Team:
Jason Keck, G5 Infrared, USA

Download the design problem. >

Manufacturing Challenge

The purpose of this challenge is to demonstrate the state-of-the-art in optical thin film manufacturing by asking participants to manufacture a demanding optical filter. Since it was first held in 2001, the challenge has attracted many participants in the past from industries, research organizations and universities. Participants can use any optical design, deposition technique and measurement equipment to manufacture the filter on supplied blank substrates according to the specification in the challenge description. Three independent laboratories will evaluate the submitted samples only for the required performance rating, and samples will be returned to participants. The manufacturing challenge results will be presented at the conference. As with previous challenges, only the participant with the top-rated sample will be named. All others will be acknowledged, but not associated with a specific sample. 

Organizers:
Daniel Poitras, National Research Council of Canada, Canada
Amy Rigatti, University of Rochester, USA

Evaluation Team:
Michael Jacobson, Optical Data Associates, USA
Catherine Cooksey, National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA
Luke Sandilands, National Research Council of Canada, Canada
John J. Gilmore, Optimax, USA

Download the manufacturing problem. >

Measurement Challenge

For almost 20 years, this challenge has offered a unique opportunity for the optical coatings community to benchmark and verify their test equipment and their test procedures. As always, a special task is given, which should be challenging but also meaningful. Moreover, the problem should be accessible to a broad range of potential participants with both standard equipment and specialized tools.

The main goal of the Measurement Challenge (MC) in 2025 is the sensitive and precise measurement of the optical losses of a high-reflecting (HR) mirror at a wavelength of 1064 nm and an AOI of 0°. This can be done using standard techniques but also using other approaches and combinative techniques – this is completely up to the participants, their capabilities and their creativity.

Evaluation Procedure of the Submitted Results
The results of the MC will be evaluated according to the regulations established in round-robin experiments. The submitted data will be evaluated according to the relative deviations of the results of the different labs from each other. The results will be presented at the conference anonymously. The list of participants is presented, but the sample number (laboratory number) related to the results does not reveal the respective participant. Each participant recognizes only him-/herself by the given number.

Organizers:
Sven Schröder, Thomas Gischkat, Fraunhofer Institut Angewandte Optik & Feinmechanik; Jena, Germany
Andreas Wienke, Florian Carstens, Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V., Germany

Evaluation Team:
Christian Mühlig, Fraunhofer Institut Angewandte Optik & Feinmechanik; Jena, Germany
Florian Carstens, Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V., Germany

Download the measurement problem. >