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Dr. Richard N. Youngworth
SPIE Involvement:
Conference Chair | Conference Program Committee | Author | Editor | Instructor
Area of Expertise:
Optical Tolerancing , Optical Design and Engineering , Optical Metrology
Profile Summary
Richard Neil Youngworth, Ph.D. is an experienced optical designer and engineer with industrial expertise that spans numerous facets of the optics field including metrology, design, manufacturing, and analysis. He is considered an international expert on producibility and tolerance analysis of optical components and systems. He has spent a large portion of his industrial career working on optical systems in the challenging transition from ideal design to successful volume manufacturing.

Dr. Youngworth has authored and delivered sundry papers, talks, and lectures on optical design and engineering. He currently teaches SPIE short courses on “Cost-Conscious Tolerancing of Optical Systems” and “Practical Optical System Design”. He maintains additional professional society activities and leadership positions with OSA and SPIE, and provides leadership and support on standards activities with the Optics and Electro-Optics Standards Council (OEOSC).

Dr. Youngworth is the founder and Chief Engineer of Riyo LLC, an optical design and engineering consulting firm. Through Riyo LLC he is also a Staff Technical Consultant for Lambda Research Corporation. With Riyo LLC, he is lead optical design and analysis for internal work and customer programs, manufacturing and technology development support, and also does sales and marketing for the company. Before forming Riyo LLC, Dr. Youngworth was a sole proprietor with exclusive representation as Director of Optical Engineering for Light Capture, Inc., a Senior Optical engineer for Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., and Research Associate at Eastman Kodak. He has a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder and earned his Ph.D. in optics at the University of Rochester by researching tolerance analysis of optical systems.

Please feel free to send an e-mail for further information.
Publications (35)
Proceedings Article | 14 September 2023 Paper
Moving beyond the drawing notation of ISO 10110
Proceedings Volume 12798, 127981R (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2692408
KEYWORDS: Standards development, Tolerancing, Optical coatings, Glasses, Bubbles, Optical engineering, Optical systems engineering, Image quality standards
SPIE Press Book | 9 February 2022
Modern Optics Drawings: The ISO 10110 Companion
KEYWORDS: Tolerancing, Standards development, Optical components, Coating, Aspheric lenses, Optical coatings, Surface finishing, Wavefronts, Glasses, Optical testing
SPIE Press Book | 24 September 2021
Review of Optical Manufacturing 2000 to 2020
KEYWORDS: Glasses, Optics manufacturing, Polymers, Coating, Metrology, Photonics, Polishing, Silica, Optical components, Refractive index
Proceedings Article | 12 September 2021 Presentation
Welcome and Introduction to Conference 11876
Proceedings Volume 11876, 1187604 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2613787
Proceedings Article | 21 August 2020 Presentation
Chair Introduction
Proceedings Volume 11488, 1148802 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2581975
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Proceedings Volume Editor (18)
SPIE Conference Volume | 6 October 2022
Optical System Alignment, Tolerancing, and Verification XIV
SPIE Conference Volume | 20 October 2021
Optical Instrument Science, Technology, and Applications II
SPIE Conference Volume | 20 August 2021
Optomechanics and Optical Alignment
SPIE Conference Volume | 15 September 2020
Optical System Alignment, Tolerancing, and Verification XIII
SPIE Conference Volume | 4 November 2019
Optical Modeling and System Alignment
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Conference Committee Involvement (44)
Optical Instrument Science, Technology, and Applications III
10 April 2024 | Strasbourg, France
Optical Design and Engineering IX
8 April 2024 | Strasbourg, France
Optical Modeling and Performance Predictions XII
22 August 2022 | San Diego, California, United States
Optical System Alignment, Tolerancing, and Verification XIV
21 August 2022 | San Diego, California, United States
Optical Design and Engineering VIII
13 September 2021 | Online Only, Spain
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Course Instructor
SC003: Practical Optical System Design
This course will provide attendees with a basic working knowledge of optical design and associated engineering. The information in this course will help novice and experienced designers, as well as people who interact with optical designers and engineers, sufficiently understand these problems and solutions to minimize cost and risk. The course includes background information for optical design and an array of pragmatic considerations such as optical system specification, analysis of optical systems, material selection, use of catalog systems and components, ultraviolet through infrared system considerations, environmental factors and solutions, Gaussian beam optics, and production considerations such as optical testing and alignment. The course includes practical and useful examples emphasizing rigorous optical design and engineering with an emphasis on designing for manufacture. Even if you have never used an optical design program before, you will become fluent with how to estimate, assess, execute, and manage the design of optical systems for many varied applications. This course is a continuation of the long-running Practical Optical Systems Design course established and taught by Robert E. Fischer.
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SC720: Cost-Conscious Tolerancing of Optical Systems
Presented in this course are concepts and methods to help attendees determine optimal tolerances for optical systems, regardless of product volume. Beginning with a review of the role of the systems engineer in the verification and allocation of requirements, a 10-step plan for creating error budgets is introduced. These budgets provide the basis for developing tolerances for design, optical and mechanical fabrication, assembly, operation, compensation, and calibration as needed. The importance of iteratively tolerancing throughout the design and development process is discussed in detail. Two optical system examples are featured, and tolerancing is demonstrated for focal length, wavefront error and MTF, and geolocation. These exercises are intended to help those in systems engineering, optical design, fabrication, and metrology work together to build high-quality cost-competitive optical systems.
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SC947: Cost-Conscious Tolerancing of Optical Systems
The purpose of this course is to present concepts, tools, and methods that will help attendees determine optimal tolerances for opto-mechanical systems in optical applications. Detailed topics in the course apply to all volumes of systems being developed – from single systems to millions of units. The importance of tolerancing throughout the design process is discussed in detail, including determining robustness of the specification and design for manufacture and operation. The course also provides a background to effective tolerancing with discussions on variability and relevant applied statistics. A treatment of third-order aberrations is included, with emphasis on understanding their origins and how to influence cost and production yield by considering their impacts. Tolerance analysis and assignment with strong methodology and examples are discussed, including the development of a design trade for a simple IR system. Other considerations for IR systems will specifically be discussed in the class. References and examples are included to help researchers, designers, engineers, and technicians practically apply the concepts to plan, design, engineer, and build high-quality cost-competitive optical systems.
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WS1058: Grant Writing from the Ground Up
All research requires funding. That truth means that proposal writing is an essential skill for all scientists and engineers, whether in academia or industry. Unfortunately, most early career professionals are uncomfortable “selling” their research. This workshop addresses “grant phobia” by teaching attendees how to align research with funding opportunities, develop firm project plans, and communicate effectively to reviewers. Attendees leave the course with the skill to build quality proposals that are compelling and convincing.
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SC1153: A Practical Guide to Specifying Optical Components
Specifying optics, even commercial optics, can be a daunting task. The optics industry has evolved its own language, symbology, and standards for specifying and manufacturing optical components which can be obscure to even a veteran engineer, much less a newcomer to the industry. This course provides an overview of the basic principles, terms, and standards that are necessary for someone specifying optical elements. A primary goal of the course is to serve as a practical guide to optics specifications and drawings, and how they relate to optical system performance. Engineers and users of optics who need to buy optical components, but are unsure of all the detailed specifications, will benefit from taking this course.
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SC1017: Optics Surface Inspection Workshop
Understanding the correct way to inspect optical surfaces is one the most important skills anyone working with or around optics can have, including technicians, material handlers, engineers, managers, and buyers. While understanding the specifications is the first step, learning how to actually perform the inspection is just as important. This hands-on workshop will allow attendees to learn the "Best Practice" for cleaning and inspecting optical surfaces. The course has many demonstrations and labs and gives attendees practice handling and inspecting optics to develop a high level of proficiency.<p> </p> This course was designed to bring photonics personnel up to an immediate working knowledge on the correct methods to conduct a surface inspection in accordance with MIL, ANSI, and ISO standards. It is designed to complement SC700 Understanding Scratch and Dig Specifications and provide hands-on experience applying the specification and inspection parameters covered in that course.
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SC863: Introduction to Modern Optical Drawings – the ISO 10110 Standard
Since the late 1990's, the optics community has gradually been converting optics drawings from a free-form, notes-based method to a standardized, international pictographic method. In 2013, the United States joined the international community by adopting a version of ISO 10110 as the American National Standard for optics drawings. This new method is a great boon for an industry in need of standardization, but can be very confusing to the uninitiated. In addition, the standard has continued to evolve with new revisions and additions to address the needs of more applications and markets. This course provides attendees with an introduction to ISO 10110, the international standard for optics drawing notations. The course concentrates on the fundamentals of the drawing layout and how to read the notations required for typical optics, such as glass parameters, radius, wave-front, surface imperfections and roughness. Attendees are also informed about how the American version differs from the current international standard. Practical and useful examples are included throughout.
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WS666: Strategies for Professional Conference Presentations
The importance of communicating ideas and information in the technical community remains very high. In this workshop, a number of different facets of planning and delivery of conference presentations and posters will be discussed. Most notably, the workshop discusses strategies for conference presentation submission, goes through important facets of the delivery of the conference talk, and concludes with discussing following-through with people in the audience. The important topic of specific slide design is covered in other SPIE offerings and is only briefly mentioned in this workshop.
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