I think this is much more than an optical breadboard. The trick with the periscope is IMHO neat and allows for clean separation of the user's experiment from the invariant photon generator/detector part. Turning on the guide beam with a touch of a button is magic to anyone who had to labor on an optical table.
This might allow for set-up, alignment and conduction of an experiment within the short time allotted in educational settings, which would be quite a challenge using less smart constituents.
Maybe it's better to think of it as a team product. That being said, I'm sure there are people who could build something like that on their own by combining the right classes in a good engineering school.
So what in the world does someone study to learn to design something like that? Computer Engineering with a PhD in experimental physics?