Some Great Visual Resources for Your Science and Photonics Facilities

Do you need some posters to decorate the walls of your classrooms, labs and halls? Two of the photonics professional societies, SPIE and the Optical Society of America (OSA), have created some excellent posters that they provide to K-12 schools and colleges, free for the asking. These posters will not only add color and class to your facilities, they provide interesting education and career information about optics and lasers. To view and request copies of these posters, you will need to visit their web sites.

The SPIE web site is http://www.spie.org/ but you can go directly to the page that shows the posters by visiting www.spie.org/x31474.xml. There are many posters shown that you may want. SPIE will send them to you rolled up in a tube. We have had them mounted on foam board for a few dollars. Then they can be hung on walls or positioned on tables, unframed or framed. Some of the ones that I found particularly interesting are:

• Introduction to Popular Applications of Optics & Lasers (new) — This poster shows novel applications that everyone can recognize, but may not know that they were enabled by optics and/or lasers. I think it is particularly useful for elementary and middle school students—and their parents.

• Future of Lasers: Illuminating the Future (new) — This is a futuristic look at new laser applications in healthcare, energy, manufacturing and communications. I think it makes a great addition in either high schools or colleges.

• Invent Your Future (new) — This is my favorite! It explores & encourages photonics careers in science and technology. I think it is particularly appropriate for middle and high schools. We have this one mounted in the entrance of OP-TEC. Others are mounted throughout our Center.

• Posters that relate to photonics applications in other fields include:
 Lithography
 Remote Sensing
 Metamaterials
 Biophotonics
 Sensors
 Nanotechnology
 Energy

The OSA web site is

http://www.osa.org/ but you can go directly to the page that shows posters & other educational materials by visiting http://www.osa.org/Foundation/Youth_Education/Classroom_Materials/default.aspx.

There are two OSA Poster Series:

• Optical Phenomena Posters (four, 11” x 34” — request the set)
 Lasers
 Fiber Optics
 Biomedical Optics
 Spectroscopy

• Make waves—Discover Science Series (new, four, 11” x 34” — request the set)
 Acoustics
 Cross Polarization
 Echolocation
 Lasers

These posters will also be sent to you rolled in a tube; and they are best displayed if they are mounted on foam board. They are printed in five languages, so specify if you want yours in English. We have six of these posters displayed in the OP-TEC office.

Educational Pamphlets to accompany OSA posters: OSA has also developed very high quality educational pamphlets to support the posters described above. These 8.5" x 11", 4-8 page documents contain scientific explanations of the phenomena/equipment, experiments and career profiles of photonics scientists, engineers and technicians. They are available as printable PDFs that you can download from the web site.

Other free educational resources: OSA & SPIE also have several CDs and digital explorations, described in their web sites, that are useful for introducing photonics and careers to young people.

One example that particularly impresses me is Lighten Up! Discovering the Science of Light. This 36 page color booklet, developed through a collaborative effort between OSA Foundation and the Girl Scouts of America, is an exciting educational resource guide for girls, ages 11-15. You can request copies from OSA and GSA, or you can download a PDF and print your own copies.

Someone once said, “The best things in life are free.” I’m not sure they were referring to educational materials in lasers and optics, but the saying sure fits for these resources.

Dan Hull

Recent Trends in Solid State (LED) Lighting

The acceptance of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) as the preferred lighting device continues to grow in all sectors throughout our country, but especially in municipalities. U.S. cities are seizing upon LEDS as a viable strategy to “Go Green”, particularly in applications where low maintenance is more important than lower initial costs.

According to an article entitled “U.S. Cities Go Green with LEDs”, in the Optical Society of America’s (OSA) February issue of Optics and Photonics News (OPN), cities as well as public and commercial institutions are demonstrating the use of LEDs to realize long term cost savings and reduce pollution in the operation of traffic lights and street lighting. Although LED’s are still more expensive than fluorescent lights, their initial costs are offset by their higher efficiencies and longer lifetimes. Maintenance costs to replace failed lighting are very expensive in street lighting and traffic lights. And LED’s don’t usually “fail suddenly”, like incandescent and fluorescents. When they begin to fail their light production usually drops about one-third, which means that there is more time to schedule and coordinate repairs.

James Brodrick, manager of the DOE’s solid state lighting program, claims that the use of high efficiency LEDs could reduce U.S. energy consumption for lighting by over 30% in two decades, which would eliminate the need for 44 power plants generating 1000 megawatts each, and cut the equivalent of 47 million automobiles’ greenhouse emission. LEDs are also more efficient in outdoor lighting because they are more directional and can be applied where they are needed. The clean, uniform lighting provided by LEDs also improves visibility.

All new traffic signals now use LEDs, which provide a cost savings of approximately $48/year, due to reduced maintenance and the fact that LEDs produce the desired colors, rather than having a broad band source that has to be filtered, like fluorescents and incandescents.

The DOE is encouraging the use of LEDs by funding municipalities and educational institutions for demonstration and test sites. (Visit http://www.ssl.energy.gov/ for more information.) The OPN article, cited above, describes several successful examples of DOE-funded initiatives.

LED use is also growing in home use, particularly in outdoor lighting. But the cost and reluctance to switch to a somewhat different lighting effect have delayed widespread use like municipalities have experienced. “The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which set efficiency standards for light bulbs, is also helping to promote LED use. Traditional incandescent bulbs do not meet the standards that go into effect in 2012”, Brodrick said. “By 2020, advanced incandescents will fall below the standards as well. Only CFLs and LEDs are likely to meet the 2020 standards.

OP-TEC continues to follow LED technology advances in lighting, in order to anticipate the need for new technicians in this field. So far most of the production and installation jobs appear to be at

the craft level.

Questions or comments? Please contact us!

Click here to read the full OPN article, "U.S. Cities Go Green with LEDs."

Click here to visit the DOE's Solid State Lighting website.