Optical sociology: how organizational culture impacts advances in optical metrology

Optical instruments have long played a role in manufacturing, and strong arguments favor accelerated adoption of fast, non-contact measurements of surfaces, shapes and positions as an enabler for industry 4.0. High-precision techniques such as optical interferometry have advanced considerably and have found applications ranging from semiconductor wafer lithography to automotive engine production. Even though there are clear benefits, there are obstacles to the more widespread adoption of optical techniques for dimensional measurements. Many of these obstacles are technical--such as vibration sensitivity and metrological traceability; but others reflect the cultural gaps between academia, makers of optical instruments, standards organizations and end users. In this talk, I propose that understanding these cultural differences can assist in advancing optical methods for the most critical needs of data-driven manufacturing.