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Optimax has planned updates and enhancements for the web site this year. For the latest on Optimax, please visit the Optimax Web Site regularly. Cheers,
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| Rick Plympton, Optimax’s CEO, will be recognized as a Distinguished Alumni of Finger Lakes Community College
(FLCC) and recently became a member of the University of Arizona’s College of Optical Sciences Development Board. Rick is honored to be invited to join the University of Arizona’s College of Optical Sciences Development Board. Rick sits on a panel with other influential members of the academic and optics communities to build and maintain the |
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college as a premier optical sciences education and research institute. For more information, http://www.optics.arizona.edu/GivingBack/DevelopmentBoard.htm |
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| Prior to Rick’s studies at the University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics, he earned three associates degrees from FLCC – Business Administration, Computer Science and Engineering Science. It was the recommendation of a professor at FLCC that started Rick on his optics path. Rick is honored to receive this award. FLCC’s write up is below: Richard J. “Rick” Plympton ’84, ’85, earned three associates degrees: A.S. Computer Science, A.S. Business Administration, and A.S. Engineering Science. He then continued his education at the University of Rochester and received a B.S. degree in Optics in 1987 and an M.B.A. degree from the Simon School at the University of Rochester in 1999. Rick joined Melles Griot Optical Systems in 1984 working in a variety of positions that took him from Rochester to California, Florida, Germany and England, concluding his career there as the European Technical Marketing Manager in 1995. In the autumn of 1995 he joined a small start-up called Optimax Systems, Inc. in Ontario, NY as their Vice President. Optimax has become one of America’s largest optics manufacturers, employing more than 150 and growing, by providing the fastest delivery service in the world for precision optics. In 1999, with M.B.A. in hand, Rick was promoted to CEO accepting the primary roles of creating market awareness and securing market opportunities including negotiating acquisitions. As a leader, Rick emphasizes the value of education in several ways. The Optimax Scholarship Program supports students in five high schools in the region, they hire a dozen college students each summer, and he works directly with the leadership of Finger Lakes regional colleges to realign degree programs offered with current industry needs. After spending his freshman year in college at the Florida Institute of Technology, Rick moved to Canandaigua and entered CCFL. In his words, “I had no idea what I wanted to do for a living. I knew that I loved playing games – any game, any time, but they weren’t giving out degrees in game theory. Later I realized that business is a game.” Rick and his wife of 10 years, Lisa, live in Rochester with their two children, Cece and Lily. |
An innovative manufacturer of precision optics.
Optimax in Space
| The contribution of Optimax to NASA research continues with the Messenger spacecraft. Optimax has manufactured flight camera lenses for this mission. Messenger will become the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury, and will follow a path through the inner solar system, including two flybys of Venus and three flybys of Mercury. This expedition will deliver the first new spacecraft data from Mercury since Mariner 10 over 30 years ago. The Messenger will follow the timeline below. |
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August 2004 – Launch
October 2006 and June 2007 – Flybys of Venus:
January 2008, October 2008 and September 2009 – Flybys of Mercury
Messenger is returning fantastic images. For more information and great photos, follow this link:
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/
An innovative manufacturer of precision optics.
Optimax Employee Profile:
Jessica DeGroote
| Jessica DeGroote joined the Optimax team July 2007 as a scientist in the research and development department. Jessica grew up down the road in Williamson NY. She attended the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester obtaining her B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr. Stephen Jacobs. Jessica has been involved with optics manufacturing throughout most of her college career first an intern at the Center for Optics Manufacturing and then for her thesis work. The title of her thesis is “Surface interactions between nanodiamonds and glass in magnetorheological finishing (MRF)”. Her research included developing a quantitative model characterizing material removal with MRF as a function of various mechanical and chemical glass and MR fluid properties. |
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| Since joining Optimax, Jessica has broadened her research topics to include various novel CNC and traditional grinding and polishing methods. She has also organized Optimax collaborations with local Universities, vendors, customers and experts in the field on projects such as evaluating the manufacturability of optical materials new to the market and determining optimum manufacturing and measurement conditions to ensure the highest quality optics for specific applications. One of her most recent projects discovered how to increase the grinding efficiency by a factor of two for the hard polycrystalline IR material aluminum oxynitride (AlON) through altering the surface tension of the carrier fluid. Jessica is also embarking on a long project to study the effects of slurry chemistry, particle and surface charges and how they effect polishing rates and surface roughness values. Outside of Optimax Jessica is busy planning her wedding. Jessica will be marrying her best friend Phil Nelson this November. When Jessica and Phil are not picking out reception halls and wedding favors you will probably find them out looking for houses or on a golf course. Jessica’s presence at Optimax exemplifies our commitment to small volume, high quality and quick delivery through a scientific approach to continuous improvement and manufacturing optics faster, cheaper and to higher precision than yesterday. If you think you have a potential collaboration project, please feel free to contact Jessica, she would love to hear from you! |
An innovative manufacturer of precision optics.
Optimax OPN Article
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This
July, Optics and Photonics News will publish an article written by Optimax which presents our research on the improvement of optical manufacturing techniques by studying the impact of chemistry on polishing. It is widely accepted that optical polishing is a mechanical process, where removal rate is dependent upon the proportional relationship between pressure and velocity. Our article builds upon current knowledge by contributing information on the chemical aspect of polishing. Specifically, we aim to increase polishing efficiency and reduce the surface roughness of optical components by varying slurry pH. The results of this study will assist manufacturers in the correct choice of slurry pH for their particular application, and will further serve to improve both prediction models and manufacturing processes. |
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Don’t miss it – the article will be published in OPN’s July edition.
An innovative manufacturer of precision optics.