David L. Fried
David L. Fried was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on April 13, 1933. He received the A.B., MS., and Ph.D. degrees in physics from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N. I. in 1957, 1959, and 1962, respectively. From 1957 to 1959 he was with RCA Astro-Electronics Division, Princeton, N. J., where he worked on computer applications analysis. In 1961 he joined the Electro-optical Laboratory of North American Aviation’s Autonetics Division, Anaheim, Calif., where, as head of the Laser Techniques Group, he was engaged in the study of devices necessary for laser applications, and in the analysis of system concepts for laser application. He also did extensive work in the study of optical propagation in a randomly inhomogeneous atmosphere and the consequent effects on optical system performance. In 1966 he joined the technical staff of the North American Aviation Science Center, Thousand Oaks, Calif., where he was engaged in a study of the microwave reflectivity and emissivity of rough surfaces. D. L. Fried was also working with The Optical Sciences Company, Placentia, California, in the 70's, and with the Department of Physics, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, in the 90's.
He is a scientist, best known for his contributions to optics. Fried described what has come to be known as Fried's seeing diameter, or r0 (usually pronounced r-naught). The seeing diameter is effectively a limiting aperture due to atmospheric turbulence, and is found either empirically or statistically. The seeing diameter limits optical resolution. Note that it is a diameter, not a radius, even though r is used as the variable.
Typical values for Fried's seeing diameter in the visible spectrum may range from less than 1 cm (you can detect turbulence with your eye) to 20 cm on Mt. Haleakala.
Honors
1993 - David L. Fried, Optical Sciences Company, SPIE Technology Achievement Award. [1]
References
- Fried, D. L. (1966) "Optical resolution through a randomly inhomogeneous medium for very long and very short exposures", J. Opt. Soc. Amer. 56:1372-9 [2]
- Fried, D. L. (1965) "Statistics of a Geometric Representation of Wavefront Distortion", J. Opt. Soc. Amer., 55:1427-1435.
See also
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