High Atomic Number Coatings for Fabrics

This new approach is useful for building radiation shields via the Z-grading method, the process of layering metal materials with different atomic numbers to provide radiation protection for protons, electrons, and x-rays.

Achieving Desired Level of Wettability for Unlikely Materials

MIT researchers have developed a way of making even the most unlikely pairings of materials take on a desired level of wettability.

Upside-Down Design Expands Wide-Spectrum Super-Camera Abilities

Plasmonics is a technology that essentially traps the energy of light in groups of electrons oscillating together on a metal surface.

Keeping the Bugs at Bay

With its instant repellency and its ability to repel rather than kill or deactivate pathogens, RepelWrap presents an effective alternative to current technologies.

Painting 3D-Printed Objects

Engineers have created a highly effective way to paint complex 3D-printed objects, such as lightweight frames for aircraft and biomedical stents, that could save manufacturers time and money and provide new...

Bandage Material Stops Bleeding Without Adhering to the Wound

Researchers have developed a new kind of bandage that helps blood to clot and doesn’t stick to the wound. They tested various superhydrophobic materials — which are, like...

Challenges of Coating Aspheric Lenses

Aspheric lenses let optical system designers improve resolution, reduce the number of lens elements required, and increase system light throughput. Their complex, non-spherical surfaces correct for more...

Material for the Next Generation of Smart Sensors

Scientists have developed color-changing, flexible photonic crystals that could be used to develop sensors that warn when an earthquake might strike next. The wearable, robust, and low-cost...

Detecting Health Markers in Thread-Based, Wearable Sweat Sensors

Engineers have created a flexible electronic sensing patch that can be sewn into clothing to analyze sweat for multiple markers. The patch could be used to diagnose and monitor...

Fast-Acting Molecular Probe

A reversible polymer changes color when it senses a material is about to fail.

Metal-Plastic Hybrid 3D Printing

This method prints 3D structures made of metal and plastic, paving the way for 3D electronics.

Electronic Skin Reacts to Pain

Artificial skin reacts to pain just like real skin, paving the way to better prosthetics, robotics, and noninvasive alternatives to skin grafts.

500°C-Rated Optical Fiber for High Temperature Applications

A metal-coated fiber capable of withstands high temperatures.

Products of Tomorrow

A smart roof coating, a wearable RFID sensor tag, and a 3D-printed OLED display.

Liquid Metal Coating Creates Effective Antiviral, Antimicrobial Fabric

The coatings eradicated human influenza and coronavirus in five minutes.

Gel-Like Fluid Prevents Wildfires

The long-lasting, environmentally benign fire-retarding treatment, if used on high-risk areas, could dramatically cut the number of fires that occur each year.

Bone Bandage Accelerates Repair

The bandage captures and holds a pro-healing molecule at the site of a bone break to accelerate and improve the natural healing process.

Dyeing Process Gives Textiles Electronic Properties

Textiles and items of clothing can be converted into e-textiles without affecting their original properties.

Optical Coating Exhibits the Same Color in Reflection and Transmission

Fano Resonance Optical Coatings can both transmit and reflect the same color simultaneously.

Products of Tomorrow

Flexible electrodes, NASA sensors, and anti-corrosion compounds.

Need for Larger Space Telescope Inspires Lightweight Flexible Holographic Lens

Holographic lenses render visible and infrared starlight into either a focused image or a spectrum.

Anticorrosion Compound Protects Steel from the Elements

The flexible, self-healing coating protects buildings, bridges, and anything above or below the water made of steel.

Q&A: Ultra-Fast Manufacturing of Wearable Sensors

An "E-Skin" material can be printed without polymer binders.

Sensor Film for Aerospace

The film monitors how well aircraft and spacecraft withstand the mechanical stresses of flight.

Luminescent Windows Generate Energy from Inside and Out

Polymer cores redirect light from any source to solar cells.

2021 OEM Photonics & Imaging Directory

See top suppliers and manufacturers in over 20 categories, including high-speed cameras, sensors, and optical components.

Q&A: Self-Healing Polymers Create Water-Resistant Coatings

Jingcheng Ma, along with a team of researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, found a way to make ultra-thin water-resistant surface coatings robust enough to...

ARTEMIS III: Return to the Surface

The third flight of SLS and Orion will carry the first woman and first person of color to the Moon.

Color-Changing Dyes Visualize Stress in Plastics

Directly visualizing external stresses of plastics is useful in development of materials with improved mechanical properties.