Dave Aikens is a world-recognized, 30-year veteran optical design engineer with classical training in lens and system design. He has done optical design work for, among other things, satellite, reconnaissance, semiconductor capital equipment, microscopy, biomedical, solar, illumination, and high energy laser systems. He is one of a very small and decreasing number of master lens designers in the world today. He is among the foremost experts on optics specifications and standards in the world today.
Zemax is our preferred design code, but designs in Code V, Light Tools or OSLO are available as well. Current specialties include satellite imaging systems, metrology products, and laser systems.
In 1983, when Rudolph Kingslake taught his Optical Design course for the last time, he wrote on the board what was referred to as "Kingslake's first law", which was "In optics it is easy to do something roughly, but very difficult to do it well". With the promulgation of inexpensive, PC-based optical design code, there are hundreds of people in the world calling themselves optical designers. But in truth, they are only able to do things roughly. There is just a handful of people with the classical training and background that allows them to do it well.
Here at Savvy Optics we use a classical approach to lens design which results in faster, cheaper, and better solutions to optical design problems. Our network of fellow independent consultants offers a staggering 120 years of combined optical design experience, all classically trained from the University of Rochester or the University of Arizona, in every field of optics. From the EUV to the far IR, reflective or refractive, microscopy or telescopy, we have experts who have designed solutions to the most challenging optical design constraints.
Increasingly, doing things well is not just a matter of the most elegant optical design that meets the technical constraints. Our designs consider ALL the constraints, including tolerancing, manufacturability and cost. When you get a Savvy solution, you can be confident that your drawings will be clear and unambiguous, and your systems will perform in reality, not just on paper.
Practical optical solutions to today's photonics problems.
