Our chapter partnered with the Optics Road Show group to present an outreach event on April 10, 2010 at the Rochester Museum and Science Center, thanks in part to a Laser Days grant. As part of the LaserFest festivities, we built a three dimensional Laser Maze and had hands‐on activities demonstrating optical concepts, including fluorescence, polarization, fiber optics and black body radiation. We were ideally located for crowds exiting the planetarium, so we were able to have more than 75 young participants along with their accompanying adults. We will be presenting our Laser Maze setup and outreach materials at the Frontiers in Optics conference, October 2010.
LaserFest is a yearlong celebration, in 2010, of the 50th anniversary of the laser, which was first demonstrated in 1960. It is a collaboration of the American Physical Society (APS), the Optical Society of America (OSA), SPIE and IEEE Photonics Society. From DVD players to eye surgery, the laser is one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century—one that has revolutionized the way we live.
Events around the world will showcase how the laser works, the history of the laser and its impact on society, and the laser’s potential for the future. To learn more, please visit the LaserFest website.
Laser Maze at the Frontier in Optics conference
The University of Rochester SPIE chapter brought back their ever-popular Laser Maze at the Frontier in Optics OSA annual meeting held in Rochester, NY on Oct. 24-28, 2010.
The Laser Maze, that was part of the LaserFest celebrations and debuted at a demonstration at the Rochester Museum of Science, in April 2010, in which children faced the challenge with enthusiasm, proved on this occasion to be a favorite of optics professionals of all ages as well.
You can read more about this event as reported by WXXI and Patricia Daukantas of OPN.
Here are a few pictures taken at FiO:
Our President Brooke Beier
Fun in the maze
At the end of the maze, candy awaits!
