Optical Design and Image Analysis Laboratory

James E. Harvey is an Associate Professor of Optics and Senior Research Staff Member at the Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers (CREOL) at the University of Central Florida (UCF).  His formal training included an A.B. Degree in Physics from Kansas Wesleyan University and an M.S. Degree in Physics from Wayne State University.  Since receiving his Ph.D. in Optical Sciences from the University of Arizona Dr. Harvey has been extensively involved in various aspects applied optics and optical engineering.  From 1983 to 1989 he was a Senior Scientist at the Perkin-Elmer Corporation where he worked on a variety of NASA sponsored astronomy programs including AXAF and FUSE.  He has recently been concerned with deriving optical fabrication tolerances necessary to satisfy specific image quality requirements.  Dr. Harvey is credited with three patents and over one hundred fifty publications and presentations in the areas of diffraction theory, surface scatter phenomena, image analysis, X-ray/EUV imaging systems, phased telescope arrays, adaptive optics, wavefront sensing, beam sampling technology and optical properties of materials.  He is a member of the OSA, a Fellow of SPIE, and has served on the Board of Directors of SPIE (2001-03).

Textbook in Progress: Scalar diffraction theory is frequently considered inadequate for predicting diffraction efficiencies for grating applications where λ/d > 0.1. It has also been stated that scalar theory imposes energy upon the evanescent diffracted orders. These notions, as well as several other common misconceptions, are driven more by an unnecessary paraxial approximation than the scalar limitation. A linear systems treatment of non-paraxial scalar diffraction theory has been developed. Diffracted radiance is shown to be shift-invariant in direction cosine space. Thus simple Fourier techniques can be used to predict a variety of wide-angle (non-paraxial) diffraction effects. For detailed outline, click here.