OSA case studies
OSA · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The OSA Certified Professional Examination is a multiple-choice credential aimed at optical engineers, photonics technicians, laser specialists, and applied scientists who need to demonstrate working command of optics rather than academic theory alone. The exam is organized across seven domains: optics fundamentals, optical materials and components, optical system design, lasers and photonics, imaging and sensing, optical metrology and testing, and safety, standards, and professional practice. The OSA case studies are 5 cases and about 4,197 words.
1Double-Slit Fringe Loss with an Extended LED Source
A teaching lab compares two green sources in a double-slit experiment. The slit mask has nominal slit separation d = 0.250 mm and slit width a = 0.040 mm, and the screen is L = 1.50 m from the mask.
774 words, about 4 min2Selecting a 10.6 µm Vacuum Window for a 150 W CO2 Laser
A materials-processing cell needs a 50 mm clear-aperture vacuum window for a 150 W CW CO2 laser at 10.6 µm. The beam is 20 mm in diameter (1/e²) and the window will be 6.0 mm thick, edge-cooled to 300 K.
854 words, about 4 min3Fixed Czerny–Turner Spectrograph Coverage and Resolution
An undergraduate team is building a Czerny–Turner spectrograph for 400–700 nm. A 1200 lines/mm grating is used in first order with a 100 mm focal-length collimator and a 100 mm focal-length camera mirror.
805 words, about 4 min4Doubling Pulse Energy on a Q-Switched Nd:YAG Process Line
A 1064 nm Q-switched Nd:YAG process laser delivers 200 mJ in a 10 ns pulse at 10 Hz. At the laser exit the beam is Gaussian with an 8.0 mm 1/e² diameter.
925 words, about 5 min5Bypassed Interlock and Eyewear Selection for a 10 W Visible Laser
A university lab installs a 10 W continuous-wave frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm for a fluorescence imaging experiment. The beam exits a 2 mm aperture, is expanded to 8 mm, and is steered by two mirrors across an open optical table at 1.1 m above the floor.
839 words, about 4 min