Jennifer DeLeon was born and raised in central California and has been a Maui resident for the past 17 years. She has an 11 year old son that was born here and she decided to return to school when he was old enough. She is in her 4th and final year of the A.S. program in Electronics and Computer Engineering (ECET) at Maui Community College. She enjoys playing and listening to music, reading, and playing video games.
Home Island: Maui
Institution when accepted: Maui Community College
Generating a Set of Zoom Lenses to Control the Divergence of a Laser Beam Project Site: HNu Photonics LLC Mentor: Dan O’Connell, Nathan Sabin
Project Abstract:
The goal of this project was to make a set of two zoom lenses from SF-11, a soft flint glass with a high index of refraction. There are many steps involved in making lenses. The first step was to edge down the pieces of raw substrate to the proper diameter. The next step was to generate the proper radius of curvature into the pieces and make sure they were the proper thickness, leaving room for the grinding and polishing processes. Then came the grinding process, which took out any damage done while the lenses were being generated. After this, the lenses were ready to polish. When the polishing process was finished, the lenses passed all testing specifications and were sent out to be coated. The result was a set of two lenses that, when put together, form a meniscus lens that causes the divergence of a laser beam. As they are moved apart they start to cause the laser beam to converge. In this way they can adjust the divergence of a laser beam. The processes and tests involved will be discussed in detail.