New High-Speed Microscope Can Capture Brain Neuroactivity

A research team has built a super-high-speed microscope.

Low-Cost Imaging System Poised to Provide Automatic Mosquito Tracking

A new low-cost imaging system could make it easier to track mosquito species that carry disease, enabling a more timely and targeted response.

Extended Dynamic Range Camera Imaging

New surveillance sensors are able to perform better than ever under unpredictable and dynamic lighting conditions.

High Quality Optical Surfaces

Make sure the polished optic meets the requirement of a particular application.

Optical In-Line VCSEL Testing

In-line testing of certain LEDs, using nanosecond pulses, will become more and more relevant with time-of-flight applications.

ZERODUR: The Highly Technical Glass-Ceramic

Highly technical glass-ceramic delivers optical precision at nanometer scale.

New Products: July 2020 Photonics & Imaging Technology

High-speed cameras, ultra-stable mounts, automated inspection systems, and more...

Understanding Sensitivity in sCMOS Microscopy Cameras

A new iteration of sCMOS camera technology promises even higher sensitivity than prior designs.

Photonic Microwave Generation Using On-Chip Optical Frequency Combs

Using integrated photonic chips fabricated at EPFL, scientists have demonstrated laser-based microwave generators.

Unlocking the Gate to the Millisecond CT

A new CT scan method using intense synchrotron radiation produces higher quality images within milliseconds.

Beyond LPW: Debunking the Myth that More is Better

There’s been a race to the top among industrial LED lighting manufacturers as they scramble to squeeze the maximum possible lumens per watt (LPW) out of their products.

A Combined Optical Transmitter and Receiver

Researchers at Linköping University, together with colleagues in China, have developed a tiny unit that is both an optical transmitter and a receiver.

Quantum Computing at Room Temperature

Quantum computer circuits that will no longer need extremely cold temperatures to function could become a reality.

Fabrication of Multilayer Ferritin Arrays

This method creates a thin-film electrode for a bio-nanobattery.

5 Ws Of LEDs for 3D Metal Printing

In the operating room, you can produce bioresorbable metal implants, such as screws for bone fractures.

Semiconductors Can Behave Like Metals and Superconductors

This work potentially opens the door to advances like more energy-efficient electronic devices.

Electrohydraulically Actuated Valve Train

The new technology demonstrates a 20 percent savings in fuel in typical passenger car low-load operating conditions.

Soft Prosthetic Hand Feels Surroundings via Stretchable Optical Waveguides

Sensors in the hand can actually detect forces being transmitted through the thickness of the robot.

Machine-Learning Tool for Developing Tougher Materials

This rapid screening system tests fracture resistance in billions of potential materials.

Hardware Reduces Energy Draw of Artificial Intelligence

A quantum material could offset energy demand of artificial intelligence.

Multi-Polymer Filament Increases Production from Low-Cost Printers

The new filament allows low-cost printers to produce parts with mechanical properties competitive with injection molded plastics.

SMART Solar Sail

The miniaturized, autonomous, reconfigurable solar sail is capable of very fine maneuvering by small surface deformation.

Machine Learning Enables Rapid Rocket Engine Design

This method provides a fast way to assess rocket engine performance in a variety of operating conditions.

Mission Control Conference System Enables Global Collaboration

Automated systems developed for NASA now serve as office conference bridges.

Robot Automates Blood Drawing and Testing

The device provides quick results and gives healthcare workers more time to treat patients in hospitals and other settings.

Wearable Cooling and Heating Patch

The patch could serve as a personal thermostat and save energy.

Elimination of Mission Clock Drift Contribution to Attitude and Celestial Pointing Error in the MSL Surface Mission

This potentially eliminates the need for future re-synchronizations.

Development Software Handles High-Integrity Space Applications

NASA needed help accurately measuring Earth-reflected sunlight.

Facility Focus: National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering

NIBIB is committed to integrating the physical and engineering sciences with the life sciences to advance basic research and medical care.

Products of Tomorrow: July 2020

NASA's Dry Goods Delivery System, a lung-heart sensor on a chip, and more.

System Reduces the Carbon Footprint of Artificial Intelligence

An automated system cuts the energy required for training and running neural networks.

Biohybrid Can Turn Carbon Dioxide into New Products

Applications exist both on Mars and on Earth.

Q&A: Underwater Smart Glue Turns On and Off

An adhesive can be deactivated by applying a small voltage.

Enhancing Aircraft System Monitoring and Reducing Unscheduled Maintenance

Aircraft may have a huge amount of data available, but this doesn’t mean it’s the right data to troubleshoot a problem.

Autonomous Boats Automatically Target and Clasp Onto Each Other

A fleet of “roboats” could transport people, collect trash, and self-assemble into floating structures.

Super-Fast Method for Ceramic Manufacturing

Scientists have reinvented a 26,000-year-old manufacturing process into an innovative approach to fabricating ceramic materials widely used in batteries, electronics, and extreme environments....

Sodium-Ion Batteries

These can replace rechargeable lithium-ion batteries commonly used in robotics, power tools, and grid-scale energy storage.

Single-Atom Transistors

Linking multiple copies of these devices may lay the foundation for quantum computing.

5 Important ESD Protection Considerations for Augmented Reality Wearables

How to design for safety, reliability, and connectivity using the latest circuit protection technologies and board layout strategies.

Nature-Inspired Green Energy Technology

A new design enables artificial photosynthesis to generate fuel that can power homes and vehicles.

New on the Market: July 2020

Photoelectric sensors, cable connectors, power monitors, and USB3 cameras.

Product of the Month: July 2020 Tech Briefs

Tektronix announced new digital storage oscilloscopes.

Answering Your Questions: Will the 2020 Mars Rover Have Back-Up Features?

A reader asks our NASA expert: "What kind of redundancy is built into the Mars 2020 rover?"

Even NASA Needs Effective Parts Sourcing

You can design the best product in the world but what if the parts, assemblies, and sub-components for your idea aren’t there?

From System to Software: A Study in Efficient, Robust Design for Electric Vehicles

In the fast-growing domain of electric vehicle development, many challenges exist. Range anxiety and cost are adoption barriers, in addition to...

Here's an Idea: A Morphing Airplane Wing Built by Tiny Robots

Ben Jennet is a PhD student at MIT and a former space research fellow at NASA. He is working with NASA to develop a new kind of aircraft wing that's flexible and changes mid-flight.

Answering Your (Mars 2020) Questions: Will the Perseverance Rover Carry Around NASA's Mars Helicopter?

The Mars rover Perseverance has a helicopter. Will the rover have to carry it around?

Transparent Graphene Electrodes Might Lead to New Generation of Solar Cells

A new way of making large sheets of high-quality, atomically thin graphene could lead to ultra-lightweight, flexible solar cells, and to new classes of...

Using Sunlight to Save Satellites from Becoming ‘Space Junk’

Carolin Frueh is among only a handful of researchers who have persisted in using a complex technique that can diagnose a problem from thousands of miles away based on how a...

New Products: July 2020 Photonics & Imaging Insider

Ultraviolet-Enhanced Circular Photodetector

Opto Diode Corporation (Camarillo, CA) has introduced the UVG5S, an ultraviolet-enhanced photodiode with a 5 mm² circular active area....

Comb on a Chip Could Revolutionize Clocks, Telescopes, Telecommunications

Just as a meter stick with hundreds of tick marks can be used to measure distances with great precision, a device known as a laser frequency comb, with its...

Guided by Light, A Mini Robot Catches Particles Underwater

A tiny underwater robot may someday filter out water contaminants by catching them with its tentacles.

Answering Your Questions: How Does the Mars Rover Camera Stay Clean?

The Perseverance rover has an almost human-like way of keeping its lenses clean.

Robotic Gripper Gets a Handle on a Challenging Object: Cables

We plug in our headphones everyday. Now a robot can perform the task.

Answering Your Questions: How Automated is the Mars Rover Landing?

Can NASA "joystick" the landing of the next Mars rover? A Tech Briefs reader asks our NASA expert.

Watch: NASA's Mars 2020 Mission Engineering and Science Briefing

Watch NASA experts review this week's preparations, as the Perseverance rover launches and begins its journey to Mars.

Watch: NASA's Mars 2020 Sample Return Briefing

Watch below as NASA experts review how they plan to return samples from the surface of Mars back to Earth.

Watch Live: A Mars 2020 Briefing with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine

Mars 2020 NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and other NASA experts offer a briefing on this week's launch of the Perseverance rover.

Self-Latching Piezocomposite Actuator

NASA Langley has developed a self-latching piezocomposite actuator with power-off, set-and-hold capability. If integrated into an aerodynamic control surface or engine inlet, deflections could be...

Aviation Electrification: Choosing Your Motor Topology and Material Advancements

As the aerospace industry continues to evolve toward more energy-efficient systems, new technologies are emerging. An example is the need for very large...

Human-Like Hands with Flexible, Hybrid Actuators

In industrial settings, robots often are used for tasks that require repetitive grasping and manipulation of objects. A humanoid hand design that is a soft-hard hybrid flexible gripper can...

Watch: The Mars 2020 Perseverance Launch

Watch below as the Perseverance rover and its Ingenuity helicopter make their way to Mars.

With Satellite Data, NASA Shows COVID-19 Impact on Food Supply Chain

“Food supply” goes beyond just crop production. See how NASA is offering a more comprehensive look at food security and agriculture.

Collaborative Robotics: Sharing the Workspace

Manufacturing robots were kept in cages previously, programmed by specialists, and often used for a single task. Today’s collaborative robots are being used by manufacturers to automate...