About Course

Overview Learning Objectives The Topics Covered will Include Schedule For Whom is the Course Intended? Benefits About the Presenter Comments from Previous Participants Apply

Principles of Laser-Based Sensors [PI.42s]

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Date: July 28-30, 2008 (Register by June 27th)
Tuition: $1,500 | Continuing Education Units (CEUs): 2.0

Updates
* Course schedule and registration times

Registration Deadline
* We recommend applying by June 27th to reserve your place. Please contact professionalinstitute@mit.edu after that date to see if seats are still available.

Overview

Laser-based optical sensors are not only replacing conventional sensors in many areas in science, engineering and medicine, but are also creating new kinds of sensors with unique properties that could not be achieved before. The course will cover the principles of a broad class of sensors, including fiberoptic sensors, relating to the measurement of physical, chemical, and biological phenomena. Techniques for remote, distributed, and multiplexed sensing will be included, as well as, sensors that must function in hostile and hazardous environments.

The objective of the course is to provide a comprehensive, yet easily understandable, coverage of the basics of optical sensors. The presentations will use simple language and the emphasis will be on the understanding, in real time, of the fundamental concepts involved. In this way, the material being covered can be followed without the need for a strong technical background, and without the heavy reliance on mathematical concepts and tools.

Numerous demonstrations will be shown to enhance the understanding of the material being presented.

In addition, the presentations will be highly interactive so that everyone will have the opportunity to ask, and be asked, questions to ensure that any material being presented is well understood by all.

Learning Objectives

• Understand the basics of sensing with light.
• Become familiar with a broad range of laser-based sensors for physical, chemical, and biological applications.
• Appreciate the limitations of optical sensors.
• Examine new technologies for optical sensing.
• Explore future possibilities in optical sensors.

The topics covered will include

• what is an optical sensor
• what can optical sensors sense
• why is there so much interest in optical sensors
• how do optical sensors sense
• basic types of optical sensors, with emphasis on interferometric- and spectroscopic-based sensors
• examples of sensing systems, including displacement, strain, flow, rotation (gyroscope), acceleration, temperature, pressure, current, voltage, acoustic, chemical, biological, and time/frequency
• techniques for remote, multiplexed, and distributed sensors
• applications to micromechanical systems
• fundamental limits on sensing with light
• challenges in the creation of optical sensors
• future developments in optical sensors

Course schedule and registration times

Class runs 9:00 am - 5:00 pm each day.

Registration is on Monday morning from 8:30 - 8:45 am.

For Whom Is The Course Intended?

The course is intended for all those who want to find out and understand what optical sensors are all about, why there is so much interest in them, and what the future may bring, without the reliance on heavy mathematics that normally accompanies such treatments. The course is suitable for engineers, scientists, doctors, medical personnel, managers, architects and others who are either working in the optical sensor field and would like to enhance their background, or not working in the optical sensor field but are curious about what optical sensors can do for them and what the future may bring.

Benefits

The benefits that the participants can expect to derive from the course, include:

• a clear understanding of what the field of optical sensors is all about
• a clear understanding of the principles used in sensing with light
• a clear understanding of what the limitations are
• an exposure to various kinds of sensor systems
• an exposure to the future of optical sensors

About the Presenter

The course will be presented by Dr. Shaoul Ezekiel, who is a professor of Aeronautics/ Astronautics, and Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research interests are primarily in the field of lasers and fiberoptics and their applications in such areas as atom-field interactions, laser spectroscopy, optical frequency/wavelength/time standards, and sensors of physical phenomena, particularly, inertial rotation (optical gyroscopes) and high magnetic fields. He is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America, the American Physical Society, and the International Society of Optical Engineering (SPIE). He has taught regular courses in optics and lasers at MIT for a many years, and has also taught many short courses at the MIT summer sessions, at technical society meetings, and at companies in many countries. He has a unique teaching style that is "fat free" and highly interactive which is very much liked by those who take his courses. (Website: www.zeelase.com)

Comments From Previous Participants

"Spending time on fundamentals really paid off because we then had a good understanding of all the later topics. I liked the course and learned a lot. Everything was great!"

"Excellent class on supplying a broad range of knowledge about light, optics, lasers and their uses for sensing."

"The concept of a sensing system was very useful to me, including techniques for remote sensing and calibration issues."

"Excellent coverage of the basics of optics and lasers needed in sensing and the exposure to a large range of optical sensors."