New Metasurface Design Can Control Optical Fields in Three Dimensions

A team led by scientists at the University of Washington has designed and tested a 3D-printed metamaterial that can manipulate light with nanoscale precision. As...

New Products: November 2019 Photonics & Imaging Insider

Test Equipment

The LDTC LAB series instruments from Wavelength Electronics (Bozeman, MT) combine low noise, high-end digital control laser diode driver technology with an...

Exposing Cathodes to Light Decreases Charge Time in Lithium-Ion Batteries

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have reported a new mechanism to speed up the charging of lithium-ion batteries...

DESI Points 5,000 Robotic ‘Eyes’ at the Sky to Explore Dark Energy

A new instrument mounted on a telescope in Arizona aimed its robotic array of 5,000 fiber-optic “eyes” at the night sky on Oct. 22 to capture the first images...

Creating the Future: New Take on Welding Gun Bonds Plastic and Metal — In Seconds

A team in Germany has a quicker, cleaner approach to welding metal to plastic: The HPCI® Joining Gun.

Robots Can Pick Up Any Object After Inspecting It

For decades, robots in controlled environments like assembly lines have been able to pick up the same object over and over again. More recently, breakthroughs in computer vision have enabled...

2019 'Create the Future' Aerospace & Defense Category Winner: A Morphing, Foldable Drone

The Foldable Drone: a Morphing Quadrotor that can Squeeze and Fly Davide Falanga, Kevin Kleber, Stefano Mintchev, Dario Floreano, and Davide...

Undercooled Metal Technology for Flexible Electronics

Undercooled metal technology was developed that features liquid metal (in this case, Field's metal, an alloy of bismuth, indium, and tin) trapped below its melting point in polished,...

New Class of Two-Dimensional Materials

A process was developed for producing oxide perovskite crystals in flexible, free-standing layers. A two-dimensional rendition of this substance is intriguing because 2D materials have been shown to...

Method Enables Robots to Exchange Directed Messages

A novel approach was developed to improve communications range and allow for covert behavior using a team of robots for future multi-domain operations. Specifically, researchers...

Motion-Powered, Fireproof Sensor

Researchers have created a motion-powered, fireproof sensor that can track the movements of firefighters, steelworkers, miners, and others who work in high-risk environments where they cannot always be seen....

Soft Robotics Perception System

A perception system for soft robots was developed that is inspired by the way humans process information about their own bodies in space and in relation to other objects and people. The system includes a...

Flying Robot Mimics Rapid Insect Flight

Flying animals both power and control flight by flapping their wings. This enables small natural flyers such as insects to hover close to a flower but also to rapidly escape danger. Animal flight has...

5 Ws of the E-Tattoo for Heart Monitoring

A new wearable could make heart health monitoring easier and more accurate than existing electrocardiograph machines.

Diamond Technology Enables Low-Cost Medical Imaging

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines are employed to locate cancerous tumors and aid in the development of treatment plans, while nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) machines are used to...

Facility Focus: National Science Foundation

In recent decades, NSF-funded researchers have discovered quite a bit, including many of the fundamental particles of matter.

Q&A: Innovative Linear Electrostatic MEMS Actuator

Sherry Towfighian and her team made a big improvement on how microphones are manufactured.

Toughening Stretchable Fibers Using a Metallic Core

Researchers have developed a fiber that combines the elasticity of rubber with the strength of a metal, resulting in a tougher material. The fibers consist of a gallium metal core...

2019 'Create the Future' Manufacturing/Robotics/Automation Category Winner: The HPCI® Joining Gun

A team of inventors found a fast way to join plastic to metal.

Facial Recognition Technology Works in the Dark

Thermal cameras like forward looking infrared (FLIR) sensors are actively deployed on aerial and ground vehicles, in watch towers, and at check points for surveillance purposes. More recently,...

Battery-Free Sensor for Underwater Use

To investigate oceans, researchers aim to build a submerged network of interconnected sensors that sends data to the surface. Supplying constant power to scores of sensors designed to stay for long...

New on the Market: November 2019

3D-printing platforms, simulation software, transistors, and more.

Web-Based Technology Assesses Structural Health

Understanding how cars, planes, bridges, and other structures handle vibrations and dynamic loads can be critical to their design and performance. Researchers have developed a new way to...