Rochester Precision Optics has just announced the appointment of Randall Shaw as company president. After more than 30 years in the defense industry, Shaw has worked with RPO’s leadership, operations, engineering and production in an advisory role.

We're pleased to announce that two key members of our team will be stepping into new roles. Mike Davenport, current Director of Product Engineering, has been promoted to Vice President of Operations and Adam Dunn is now the Director of Business Development & Marketing.

With continuous record-pace growth, Rochester Precision Optics is expanding their team and will host an in-house career fair on Thursday, April 27, 2017 from 6-8pm for interested and qualified candidates. Held at their facility at 850 John Street West Henrietta, N.Y., RPO looks forward to meeting potential new team members during the career fair.

Rochester Precision Optics' design engineer Jamie Ramsey will give a technical presentation at the 2017 SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing (DCS) show in Anaheim, April 9-13. Formerly Defense + Security, DCS is a leading event among defense, security, medical device, and environmental professionals. Attendees gain insight on the latest advancements in sensing and imaging technologies including infrared, LIDAR, sensors, and spectral imaging.

At booth 607 in the New York aisle, visitors can learn more about Rochester Precision Optics' advanced capabilities.

Members of the RPO team will be attending the 2017 NSSF SHOT Show January 17-20 in Las Vegas, Nevada where they will provide demos of the new CMOS Night Observation Device (CNOD).

Rochester Precision Optics (RPO) is pleased to announce that they will be hosting an in-house career fair on Oct. 19, 2016 at their offices located at 850 John Street West Henrietta, N.Y.

RPO's Director of Advanced Programs Rick Bryant will be attending the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington DC this week. The forum, which is held every October, attracts more than 26,000 attendees from around the world. In addition to attending military and national security presentations and panel discussions, attendees will hear from top Army leaders and see the latest Army research on display in the Innovators Corner.

Rochester Precision Optics, LLC (RPO) has been awarded a grant from the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) to pursue chalcogenide glass IR optic development for quantum cascade lasers.

RPO, after successful completion of Phase 1 STTR, seeks to develop a fast axis collimating lens for quantum cascade lasers (QCL), which are tunable to emit in the full infrared range. Because primary applications are wide, the lenses must withstand the stress of both continuous wave and pulsed laser emission. Lenses for this application are not known to currently exist, making RPO first in the industry to achieve a working prototype.

“Our work in developing chalcogenide IR lenses for QCL is just one example of RPO’s commitment to innovation,” said RPO President Dane Hileman.

To date, RPO has successfully designed the lens, as well as test materials and coatings for damage threshold. By the end of Phase 1, a working prototype was produced and provided to the Air Force for testing.

“We had great results with the prototype,” said Dr. George Lindberg, RPO’s Glass Materials Manager and principal investigator on the project. With no damage recorded during testing, Dr. Lindberg is looking forward to progressing the design and manufacturability process in Phase 2.

Although QCL systems are in their infancy, price and performance improvements have opened up commercialization opportunities for QCL. Potential applications range from military systems to spectroscopy, including medical, scientific, research, security and pollution monitoring. RPO projects that continued market growth for quantum cascade lasers will result in similar market growth for chalcogenide lenses.

About STTR

The Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR; https://www.sbir.gov/about/about-sttr#sttr-program) is a program that expands funding opportunities in the federal innovation research and development (R&D) arena. The program is focused on the expansion of the public/private sector partnership to include the joint venture opportunities for small businesses and nonprofit research institutions. The STTR program requires small businesses to formally collaborate with a research institution in Phase I and Phase II. STTR’s most important role is to bridge the gap between performance of basic science and commercialization of resulting innovations.

RPO is proud to announce that Dane Hileman has been named president of the company, effective June 13, 2016.

Hileman brings to RPO more than 25 years of engineering and management experience in the optics industry. As president he will focus on enhancing the technical capability and production execution for existing and new customers, as RPO works to become the go-to supplier for companies seeking high performance lenses, lens assemblies and subsystems.

“I look forward to bringing my capabilities in design, development and manufacture of optics and optical products to RPO, to help realize RPO’s full potential as a world-class optics company,” Hileman said.

Most recently, Hileman was the president of Vectronix Inc., where he was responsible for the day-to-day operations of facilities in New Hampshire, California and Virginia, and was on the board of its wholly owned subsidiary, Optics 1. Prior to this, he was chairman, president and co-owner of Optics 1, Inc., an engineering company that he helped transform into a significant optical development and manufacturing business.

“Dane’s appointment is an important milestone in our ongoing work to realize the full technical and manufacturing potential of RPO,” said Ken Solinsky, RPO’s managing member.  “As president of RPO, Dane will accelerate our progress in excellence in optical design and manufacturing. Dane shares my commitment to serve RPO’s customers as an outstanding supplier and strategic partner.”

RPO is committed to providing its valued customers optical elements and assemblies with excellent performance, on-time deliveries and outstanding value. We look forward to having Dane join our team and continue these commitments.