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If you were to ask Professor Emeritus James (Jim) C. Wyant what has led to his success, he would most likely. as he has many times, say, “luck and timing.” And while many people would agree that luck can create some level of opportunity, nothing enables greater career success than working harder and caring more. This paper is a short biography of James C. Wyant, Professor Emeritus at the College of Optical Sciences at the Univ. of Arizona, where he was Director (1999-2005) and Founding Dean (2005–2012). In April of 2019, the College of Optical Sciences at the Univ. of Arizona was renamed as the James C. Wyant College of Optical Sciences in his honor.

As a PhD graduate of The Institute of Optics in 1968, Jim Wyant made important technical contributions to the field in academia and industry. His thesis on topics in holography would augur decades of work in interferometric techniques that have been essential in applications from astronomy to computer technology. His journey from a farm in Ohio, to Case Institute of Technology to the University of Rochester, to the Itek Corporation in Boston and of course to the University of Arizona spanned the country and left an indelible print on the history of optics and The Institute itself. Throughout many years, even as he committed time to the University of Arizona, the OSA and the companies he founded, he continued to support The Institute of Optics through our summer short course program, through advice, and through generous support of professorships and programs at the University of Rochester.

After earning his PhD at Rochester in 1968, Wyant moved to Boston and joined Itek Corporation. Six years later he moved from Boston to Tucson and entered into the world of teaching, research, and probably most importantly, students at the University of Arizona. Then, in 1982, he made the partial move back to industry at Wyko Corporation. This section of the program will recall some of the events of his career during that time.

James C. Wyant has made profound contributions to the field of optics not only through technical innovation but as a leader in education, research, and economic impact. By championing and investing in the development and enrichment of the future talent pool, and successfully encouraging other to join this mission, Dr. Wyant has bolstered the foundations of our field with indelible advances in our capacity to realize the remarkable potential of optics to better humankind. This brief piece will capture some of my personal recollections in working with Jim in these endeavors.

Jim Wyant is an educator, an engineer, a scientist, and an inventor; but today I'm going to talk about his remarkable talents as a businessman and entrepreneur. As many of you may know, I was one of Jim's students and I went on to become his business partner in both WYKO and 4D Technology. Over the 43 years that we have known each other, I watched Jim at work and we had a lot of fun so here are a few stories and some lessons learned from Jim's amazing success in business.

It is a bit of an understatement for me to say that James C. Wyant has had a significant impact on my career. He has been my teacher, my instrument supplier, my mentor, my colleague, my boss and construction partner, and most importantly, my friend. This talk is my attempt to reflect on this journey. I first met Jim, actually Professor Wyant at the time, in 1977 when I took his Optical Testing course. I do not recall working much if any with Jim when I was a student, but the Optical Sciences Center was much smaller at the time, so we certainly knew each other. When I graduated in 1980, I went to work at the Kodak Research Labs doing, you guessed it, interferometry. This was a very interesting time for interferometry as phase-shifting interferometry was just starting to take hold. As I started publishing and became involved with this community, my interactions with Jim increased to where he became my mentor. After WYKO was founded, I purchased a couple of instruments. Jim was instrumental in recruiting me to become a faculty member, which I did in 1991. After Jim became Director of OSC, it became apparent that we needed more space, and Jim asked me to help him. We started by drafting a ridiculously optimistic forecast of the growth of OSC that would be enabled by a new building. The forecast led to approval, an initial budget, and got the process started. Jim then essentially asked me “to go build a building,” which led to a pre-architectural study, revised budgets, selecting an architect, design, selecting a contractor and construction (with ample donuts at the weekly construction meetings). We occupied the building in 2006 only to find that the building was essentially completely full on move-in, and that we had already met the ridiculously optimistic forecast! About the same time in 2005, Jim convinced the University to elevate us to the College of Optical Sciences, and Jim became our first Dean.

Few in history have had as great an impact on their field of study than James C. Wyant. This paper provides an historical overview of Wyant’s contributions to the field of optical metrology and how they have impacted today’s technology. Beyond his role as an innovator, inventor, leader, enterpreneur and philanthropist he will perhaps be best known for his teaching and the legacy of the multitudes of students he taught over his career.

Upon entering graduate school, I wanted to ensure real world experience prior to graduation. Fortunately, Jim Wyant was willing to accept me as a student, working with him at Wyko Corporation. After graduating I stayed on as an optical engineer, product manager, and eventually engineering and research director as the company was acquired by Veeco and eventually Bruker. Meanwhile Jim Wyant had brought another optics company to Tucson, 4D Technology, with unique technology developed by James Millerd and Neal Brock. That organization was growing well, with many former Wyko/Veeco employees, and as Bruker's Tucson business changed, I moved to help grow it further, staying in the Wyant ecosystem. This talk will focus on my journey under Jim's companies, including key milestones and stories from my own experience and those of some of the other long-term employees of Wyant’s optical enterprises.

Jim has been a source of information and inspiration for many people, including me. It was Jim who steered me in 1994 to a new website named Yahoo! that was being developed by two grad students in my own department. And it was Jim who, through his many contributions to the Wolfram Demonstrations Project, introduced me to the power of manipulatable figures to illustrate various aspects of optics using Mathematica™.

From humble roots, James C. Wyant has one of those “rags-to-riches” stories that people love to hear. His early years illustrates a young boy who took over the family’s chicken farm in rural Ohio when his father suddenly passed away, forcing Jim onto a platform where his natural talents for business brilliance took immediate action. Today, as a distinguished researcher, educator and entrepreneur, Jim knows that in addition to several key people and their influences, a solid education is what also helped prepare him for an incredible journey of fulfillment. Consequently, it seems only natural that Jim and his family are now making notable philanthropic investments in higher education at several U.S. institutions – and often in the name of those who inspired him. While there are several motivational stories about philanthropists who are making a difference in this world, Jim truly stands in a court of his own. In this presentation, you will learn what motivates James C. Wyant to make these generous and ingenious decisions to support academia.

Dr. James C. Wyant invited a young undergraduate to declare Optical Sciences as his major, claiming that optics offered innovation, impact, and challenges; backing that claim up with stories of his career of academic discoveries and entrepreneurial successes. Years later, the lasting contributions Dr. Wyant made to the field of metrology offered a new point for further exploration, both for the original student and another young optical scientist coming from the University of Rochester. These students, Dr. Graves and Dr. Trumper, joined the graduate optical sciences program at the University of Arizona to further explore the field of optical metrology and science that Dr. Wyant had been a pioneer of. With the generous support of the Friends of Tucson Optics (FoTO) Scholarship to support them early in their careers, and one of Dr. Wyant’s prior students turned professor to advise them, Dr. Graves and Dr. Trumper learned the intricacies and needs of the field of optics and metrology, and how a commercial product needs to serve the customers. These experiences, and knowledge of Dr. Wyant’s own entrepreneurial successes, provided the required motivation, knowledge, and community to create ELE Optics, a company providing software solutions to the optical science community. We are indebted to Dr. Wyant’s generosity, kindness, and accomplishments and strive to show our appreciation for his vision.

Professor James C. Wyant allowed an international visiting student to audit his OPTI513 Optical Testing class in 2005 at the College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona. The visiting student loved this class, left his graduate study in Astronomy, and joined the College of Optical Sciences in 2006. The student signed up for the optical testing class again, and eventually received his PhD degree in a graduation ceremony led by Dean Wyant in 2009. His name is Daewook Kim and he is now an associate professor in the Wyant College. In 2017, Prof. Wyant asked this graduate to teach OPTI513. He now teaches the course regularly to both on-campus and distance learning students. This is a story of Jim and one of his students who wants to thank him one more time.

This author’s unique personal perspective will honor through examples and analysis the contributions that "Disciple" Wyant has made to the optical sciences and metrology discipline and for the people that work within it. In spring 1974 the author was at the Optical Sciences Center (OSC) as a graduate student when "Physician" Wyant interviewed and made a diagnosis and improvement to a holographic interferometry configuration of a project the author was working on. “Student” Brooks went on to became one of the first of Dr. Wyant's future graduate students. He also enrolled in "Educator" Wyant's first Optical Testing OPTI213 class in 1975 where optical metrology and wavefront characterization of electromagnetic radiation was presented, defined and clarified to make the field addictive and irresistible to the author. It would prove to be the author’s strongest career influence for the next 35 years, pointing him to a profession in optical metrology within aerospace laser industrial design, integration and test engineering functions. This presentation will illustrate derivative effects of "Producer" Wyant's contributions, including examples associated with the presenter's industry experience. Also presented are examples of James Wyant’s generous philanthropic campaign.

As the first graduate student coming from Korea at the Optical Sciences Center 0n January 1976, I was quite fascinated by the genuine “Openness” and “Diversities” not only in the surroundings of Tucson, but also among the people and programs at OSC. Under the guidance of Dr. James C. Wyant, various longwavelength interferometric systems were developed using 10.6 micron CO2 laser for testing large optics, IR transmitting optics, rough surfaces, etc. This presentation describes some of the early developments in optical testing and measurements in real-time, high-speed interferometry and profiling technologies with some anecdotes.

Professor James C. Wyant and I came to know each other when he joined the Optical Sciences Center (OSC) at the University of Arizona in 1974, where I had just completed my PhD degree and was working as a Research Associate. However, shortly thereafter I left Tucson for Draper Lab in Cambridge, MA, and later, for The Aerospace Corporation in the Los Angeles area. I had been teaching a course at the University of Southern California on optical imaging and aberrations when Jim asked me to teach at OSC. While I agreed to teach voluntarily, he also said that I should ask my employer to pay for the expenses to commute from Los Angeles to Tucson, and I did. That is how Jim became my academic boss, and I began teaching at OSC in 2004. Over time, Jim honored me for my voluntary teaching by naming the OSC Applied Optics Lab in my name. I discuss here how my acquaintance with Jim grew to an enduring friendship as an adjunct professor under Jim's leadership.

This paper briefly tells the story of the importance of metrology in optics fabrication at Optimax, and highlights Wyko and Jim Wyant’s contribution to early Optimax success.

This paper contains a transcript of my presentation at the Wyant Tribute Symposium on August 2, 2021 at SPIE’s Optics and Photonics conference in San Diego, California. The technical part of the paper has no overlap with a previous article of mine that was published in Applied Optics last year, bearing the same title as this one. The applications of Fourier transformation described in the present paper include the central limit theorem of probability and statistics, the Shannon-Nyquist sampling theorem, and computing the electromagnetic field radiated by an oscillating magnetic dipole.

Analogy and duality help systematic and unified understanding of the seemingly different principles of optical metrology. As an ode honoring Jim Wyant and his achievements in optical metrology, I would like to present a review that revisits the time-space analogy and signal-frequency duality in optical metrology.

The computer generated hologram, or CGH, is the current de facto standard for accurate surface figure measurements of aspheres and freeforms. In this paper we will go over the history of the CGH technology development: from the birth of the holography to the invention of computer generated hologram; from early application of the CGH in testing aspheric surfaces to the development of precision fabrication techniques; from use of the CGH as null lens to more innovative applications testing and aligning optical systems. Dr. Wyant is a pioneer in the early development of the technology. His specific contributions will be introduced in detail. Efforts underway to expand the CGH use are also described.

An optical system based on a Fizeau interferometer with instantaneous phase-shifting using a Wollaston prism is presented. To measure dynamic phase change of objects, a high-speed video camera of 10⁻⁵ s with a pixelated phase-mask. The laser light is split into orthogonal polarization states by passing through a Wollaston prism. Then the beam is passed through expanding and collimating optics onto a sample through a half mirror. The half mirror acts as the reference surface. The light beams reflected back from the sample and the reference half mirror are filtered with a pin hole and arrives at the pixelated camera. By adjusting the tilt of the reference surface it is possible to make the reference and object beam with orthogonal polarizations states to coincide and interfere. Digital holography based on this system is also discussed.

Although Dr. Wyant's career has been spent largely teaching optics, conducting research, and growing companies in Arizona, his influence also has strongly and positively affected and aided the establishment and growth of the optics community in far-away Montana. The authors of this paper are both recipients of Optical Sciences PhDs from the University of Arizona, where they first encountered Dr. Wyant and his inspirational teaching. Their career success has been aided directly by Dr. Wyant's assistance long after their graduation, and they both have been leaders in growing the Montana optics and photonics community. This paper shares some stories of how Dr. Wyant's influence has indirectly and directly strengthened and promoted the successful growth of optics in Montana industry and academia.

In the design and specification of precision optical components for advanced imaging applications it is necessary that residual optical fabrication errors be specified and measured over the “entire range of relevant spatial frequencies”. This includes the mid-spatial-frequency surface errors that span the gap between the traditional “figure” and “finish” errors. Since surface scatter is merely a diffraction phenomenon, the linear systems formulation of non-paraxial scalar diffraction theory forms the basis of the GHS surface scatter theory: a linear systems formulation of surface scatter theory valid for smooth or rough surfaces, large or small incident and scattered angles and arbitrary surface PSDs. The resulting surface transfer function can be combined with the conventional OTF which then characterizes image degradation due to diffraction effects, geometrical aberrations, and surface scatter effects. The method of determining the composite surface PSD from the metrology data and the method of predicting the bidirectional scattered distribution function (BSDF) from the surface PSD will be discussed as will the process for deriving the optical fabrication tolerances necessary for satisfying specific image quality requirements.

Wavefront sensors are applied for wavefront measurement, which is the basis for analyzing and testing optical systems. SPIE (OP300) 2021 is a special year for Tribute to Professor James C. Wyant who has great contributions and services to the fields of optical metrology and optics education, including the science and application of interferometry. This paper focuses mainly on recalling some interesting stories related to Prof. Wyant.

In a previous presentation, the author presented a method of tolerancing mid-frequency surface ripple, based on a sensitivity parameter that related the slope error on the surface to the ray deviation at the image plane. The method established an upper allowable limit for the slope error on the surface. Because the analysis method was based on geometric raytracing, it included no consideration of scale. (Snell’s law is Snell’s law, regardless of the size of the feature.) Although the intention was to apply this design method only to macroscopic surface features, the notion of a slope limit without a scale limitation raises the question as to the region of validity, i.e., when do we need to take diffraction or scatter into account? In this presentation, we examine the transition between geometric raytracing and scalar diffraction theory. This is entirely analogous to the transition between the geometric model of a Ronchi test and that of a diffraction-based, lateral shear interferometer.

Interferometry is a deceptively simple and yet powerful optical concept, just as Dean Wyant is an unpretentious man who achieved successes by wisely practicing his art. We take two coherent waves and generate an interferometric pattern that gives us an intensity distribution with varying spatial frequencies. We apply several modalities in our laboratory in the CIO: vectorial shearing interferometry to probe a surface in an arbitrary direction, rotational shearing interferometry to detect a faint off-axis source in the presence of a strong, rotationally symmetric one, and interferometry with ballistic photons to diagnose abnormal tissue.

With 40 years of experience with space instrumentation, I reflect on the rigors of designing cameras for stringent environmental hazards. The fundamental knowledge of optics instilled in me as a student at the Optical Science Center gave me the basis for my career. Jim Wyant is the first name that comes to mind from those formative years in the 70’s. A decade later, I became an employee of WYKO helping with the phase-shifting interferometers that his company produced. As a final gesture, Jim allowed me to complete my education in 2009 (32 years after my Master’s degree) as my PhD advisor.

High speed interferometry (HSI) is one of the enabling technologies to the successful development and testing of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) optical system that consists of a 6.5 meter diameter, segmented, lightweight primary mirror and lightweight carbon fiber composite structure. This paper reviews the interferometry that was used first to demonstrate that the mirror and lightweight composite structure technologies were ready for JWST and to verify performance of the fully assembled primary mirror and the telescope at cryogenic temperature. The tools and techniques developed for JWST are being advanced to benefit future missions that require stable mirrors, precision metering structures, active controls and diagnostic metrology.

Fascinated by the marvelous work that Professor Jim Wyant has done in both academy and industry, I decided to pursue a career in the field of 3D optical metrology in my early graduate study. I took advantage of the modern digital technology for 3D optical metrology to address the challenges in high-speed, high-resolution 3D optical metrology and optical information processing. This paper summarizes what I have done to achieve speed breakthroughs in the field of 3D optical metrology using digital fringe projection techniques, to achieve real-time 3D video streaming by compressing enormous 3D video data size, and to solve some practical problems using the techniques we have developed including biomechanics, robotics, forensics, and entertainment.

Professor James C. Wyant made profound impacts on many people as a stellar scholar, an educator, a mentor, a collaborator, a master entrepreneur, a philanthropist, and a friend. This paper is not really about optics in wearable displays, but about a story how Professor Wyant influenced my professional career development as the Director and then the founding Dean of the James C. Wyant College of Optical Sciences. Without Prof. Wyant’s influence, most of my research in optical technologies for wearable displays would not have happened and I would be living in a very different world.

James Wyant’s contributions to the foundations of polarization aberration theory are reviewed and the simplifications it provided relative to polarization ray tracing are emphasized.

In the late 70’s and early 80’s, Phase Shift Interferometry (PSI) was one of (if not the) hot topics in the Wyant lab. As my dissertation revolved around measuring the statistical properties of speckle patterns (using the newly invented CCD array), my work was somewhat out of the mainstream, and I developed a mild case of PSI envy. Two years after graduating, I finally had a chance to use PSI, although for a very different purpose. In the mid 1980s, there was a great deal of interest in being able to build heterodyne receivers for optical communications. An optical heterodyne receiver is exactly analogous to FM radio, where the input frequency modulated signal is beat against a cw semiconductor laser (the local oscillator) with a slightly different frequency. Heterodyne receivers can achieve shot noise limited performance by turning up the power of the local oscillator to the point where the shot noise becomes larger than the receiver thermal noise. Moreover, changing the frequency of the local oscillator enables decoding one of many channels in the signal). Among the many challenges facing the development of such systems was the problem that that semiconductor laser linewidths at the time were one or two orders of magnitude larger than the linewidth predicted by Schawlow-Townes for gas lasers, leading to unacceptable amounts of receiver phase noise. Moreover, the linewidth was not Lorentzian, but had structure - also contributing to excess phase noise with a resonance at the relaxation oscillation frequency of the laser. Two groups (Chuck Henry[1] at Bell Labs, and Vahala and Yariv at Caltech) were working to extend the Schawlow-Townes theory to account for the change in a semiconductor’s index of refraction due to spontaneous emission. At that time, measurements of linewidth were typically made in the frequency domain using a Fabry-Perot Interferometer. However, it is extremely difficult to deconvolve the effect of changes in the cavity index from the linewidth caused by simply adding spontaneous photons to the field in the frequency domain. In contrast, by measuring the coherence function (delayed time domain), these effects are multiplicative, and can be separated by simple curve fitting. Using Phase-Shifting Interferometry (PSI) it was possible to measure the coherence function of semiconductor lasers, enabling quantitative validation of the Henry/Vahala theory. Moreover, it was also possible separate out total impact of stochastic phase fluctuations, from the frequency modulation caused by direct current modulation of the signal laser, to show that the coherence properties of the signal laser do not change under modulation. I had the great fortune to work for Jim Wyant at the most pivotable point in my career. It led to the work described above, which in turn led to work on very high speed (>50 GHz) frequency modulation, receiver characterization, optical switching, and optical amplifiers. Perhaps more importantly (and something that took me many years following my graduate career to recognize), working for Jim provided a model for how to guide research groups, and how to mentor students. In this talk, I will discuss both the technical aspects of using PSI to measure the coherence properties of semiconductor lasers, as well as some of lessons learned (and a few of the humorous things that happened) during my apprenticeship in the Wyant lab.