Micron Optics, Inc, an established leader of innovative optical components and laser-based equipment, announced the promotion of Todd Haber to Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and the hiring of John Floyd as Director of Product Development.

“Both Todd and John bring technical depth, experience and most importantly, vigor and life to their new roles at Micron Optics. It is truly an exciting time for our team as we grow and prepare for larger corporate growth too.” said Jeff Miller, President and CEO of Micron Optics.

Please follow the link to the associated press release to learn more.

If you haven’t already subscribed to new entries to the Micron Optics sensing blog, enter your email in the “Subscribe By Email” box on the left-hand side of the screen to stay current with Micron Optics’ latest product releases and optical sensing application news.

- Andrew Peterson

In May of 2011, I blogged about a fiber-optic-based rock deformation measurement system at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) (formerly the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (SUSEL)). www.sanfordundergroundlaboratoryathomestake.org .

SURF is an interim facility under construction while DUSEL funding is pending from the DOE. Last week, Fermilab www.fnal.gov hosted a DuRa meeting attended by physicists and scientists from all over the world. This meeting was held to update the community on the progress of the current and future experiments at SURF.

During the meeting members of DuRa viewed a live feed of an experiment at the 4100ft level of the Homestake Mine in Lead, SD. This experiment involved loading the rock mass with a 100 ton capacity jack. More than 30 FBG based strain gages recorded the rock deformation during loading.

Both “strain strips” (a clever embedded strain measurement transducer created by the GEOXTM Team) and Micron Optics os3600 long gage strain sensors, embedded and mounted on the surface, successfully measured changes in the rock as small as a few microns.

This system has been live 24\7 for nearly three years. Stay tuned as I will post the new data as it becomes available.

To view the pre-recorded “live” feed follow this link : http://vmsstreamer1.fnal.gov/VMS_Site_02/Lectures/DURA/120119Roggenthen/index.htm
Note this link best viewed with Firefox or Safari as some viewers had issues with viewing in IE.

You can also view some quick data plots from the experiment.

Alan Turner