Photonics/​Optics

A new laser-based system offers an efficient way to detect fires in challenging environments such as industrial facilities or large construction sites.

For disease diagnosis, a microchip maps the back of the eye.

A system senses tiny changes in shadows on the ground to determine if there’s a moving object coming around the corner.

A nanoantenna-enabled detector boosts the usable signal of a thermal infrared camera by up to three times.

Interaction of sound and light reveals new information of a crystal's quantum properties.

Loosely connected disc-shaped “particles” can push and pull one another, moving together to transport objects.

This technology is a novel, rugged, and economic diagnostic and sensor platform technology.

These advances are useful for transportation, infrastructure, and aerospace.

This thin film can be used for ground-based and airborne applications in aircraft, balloons, and other flight missions.

Radar technologies were originally designed to identify and track airborne military targets. Today, they're more often used to detect motor vehicles, weather formations,...

Current laser interferometry pressure pulse detection techniques use the shock-induced change in index of refraction to track detonation and/or shock fronts in a single fiber optic by reflecting laser...

This approach removes the limitation on peak power densities that exists for fiber lasers.

This optical switch controls the direction of light passing through optical fibers faster and more efficiently.

RFID-based devices work in indoor and outdoor lighting conditions and could transmit data for years before they need to be replaced.

The method could impact optical imaging, vision correction, and disease diagnosis.

These polymers can combine thermal and optically fixable shape memory.

This system uses fiber optic strain sensing to detect and locate micrometeoroid/orbital debris.

This multifunctional hybrid laminate composite can be used for residential and commercial construction.

This innovation dynamically provides fast signal processing and precision measurement.

Contact lenses that can monitor the wearer’s health and correct eyesight use embedded electronics. These, and other curved devices such as solar cells and electronics, could be...

A method was developed to make atom-flat sensors that seamlessly integrate with devices to report on what they perceive. Electronically active 2D materials, touted for their strength, are difficult to move to...

Engineers at the University of Illinois have found a way to redirect misfit light waves to reduce energy loss during optical data transmission. In a study,...

Researchers have developed a new self-calibrating endoscope that produces 3D images of objects smaller than a single cell without a lens or any optical, electrical, or...

High quality camera performance on mobile devices has proven to be one of the features that most end-users aim for. The importance of optical image quality improvement and the trend to have thinner and thinner...

A new imaging method extracts a color image from a single exposure of light scattered through a mostly opaque material.

UCLA engineers have made major improvements on their design of an optical neural network — a device inspired by how the human brain works — that can identify objects or process...

Most of us know optical lenses as curved, transparent pieces of plastic or glass, designed to focus light for microscopes, spectacles, cameras, and more. For the most part, a...

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...