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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The methods described are used with existing fiber optic technologies, and are based on several patents and on disclosures now before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patents are No....
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
The Boeing Company has developed fiber-laser-amplifier technology representing the latest in diode-laser-pumped systems, providing high output power, high brightness, tunability, frequency-doubled...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Semimonolithic resonant structures external to lasers have been proposed for use in optical frequency-conversion applications - for example, doubling the frequencies of laser beams....
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A simple technique for extending the dynamic range of a charge-coupled-device (CCD) video camera involves the use of photochromic material — the same material used in...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Devices containing planar arrays of micromachined, electrostatically adjustable Fabry-Perot interferometers are undergoing development. These devices could be designed, for example,...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
As currently practiced, packaging of individual optoelectronic components accounts for 40-50 percent of product cost. The development of higher-volume, lower-cost optoelectronic...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
The Boeing Company has developed and patented certain enhancements to commercially available Bragg grating sensors and demodulation systems. These patents (Nos....
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
The figure schematically shows a micromachined Fabry-Perot interferometer that, when fully developed, would be part of a two-dimensional array of such interferometers in a...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
External-cavity diode lasers (ECDLs) have been commercially available for several years. Since their introduction, they have found applications ranging from telecommunications to atomic...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Figure 1 shows an apparatus for growing a single-crystal fiber by solidification from a floating zone of laser-heated molten material on the tip of a feed rod. The apparatus can be...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Many types of scientific images and data are complex and are easier to interpret when observed in three dimensions. This is especially true for information presented visually in the form of...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
The figure illustrates aspects of a lightweight, relatively inexpensive solar photovoltaic module suitable for use on Earth or in outer space in conjunction with at least a single-axis...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
An imaging method to detect flaws in composite pressure vessels used in the aerospace industry has been developed. Solid-rocket-motor casings and fuel or oxidizer tanks for liquid rocket motors can now be...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Thermal-desorption x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (TDXPS) is a technique in which the thermal aspect of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is combined with non-angle-resolved x-ray...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Ultraviolet Hygrometer
An ultraviolet hygrometer has been developed that uses an optical technique to provide fast response, stable calibration, and immunity to airborne contaminants. It is a two-wavelength two-path instrument that relies on the differential absorption by water vapor of two wavelengths in the vacuum ultraviolet. The differential...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
NREL scientists have developed an optical processing furnace that combines photonic effects of light with heat to selectively induce reactions at far lower temperatures than they would be if caused by heat alone. In...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
The portable, easily expandable Microburst Automatic Detection (MAD) system can dramatically improve aviation safety. Mimicking the reasoning of a human observer on the lookout for weather hazards, MAD...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Sensors made largely of commercially available optical and electronic components are being developed for use in measuring small horizontal displacements of payloads suspended below...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Data signals can be transmitted via the same optical fibers that are used to transmit power from base stations to remote stations containing sensors and associated circuitry. [A prototype...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A great increase in the effectiveness of fiber optic systems is possible with a device that allows for simultaneous two-way signalling of multiple data streams on a single optical fiber....
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A proposed electro-optical image-processing system would enable remote viewing of an object through a multimode optical fiber, as though the fiber were a conventional image-transmitting optic like a lens...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
High-speed communications, medical applications, and semiconductor processing would all benefit from a laser that can produce stable, high-repetition-rate pulses at 1.55 micrometers. One...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Modulated (as opposed to steady) light can be used in the optical transmission of power to remotely located sensor circuitry in a system like that described in the preceding article,...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
The figure schematically illustrates a prototype general-purpose, microprocessor-based sensor and control system in which power, data, and control signals are transmitted via optical...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
An experimental study has been conducted to demonstrate the feasibility of using spectrally resolved Rayleigh scattering to nonintrusively measure the instantaneous properties of the...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Pulse shepherding is a nonlinear signal-propagation phenomenon that can occur when several pulses of light at different wavelengths are launched simultaneously or nearly simultaneously along the same...
Briefs: Imaging
Software for Processing SAR Images of the Polar Oceans
The RADARSAT/ERS-1,2 Geophysical Processor System (RGPS) is an automated system of hardware and software that processes synthetic-aperture-radar (SAR) images of ice and open water in polar oceans to generate higher-level geophysical-data products. Information in such products includes the age...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Program for Analysis of a Complex Optomechanical System
The IMOS computer program contains subprograms that, collectively, provide a unique capability for multidisciplinary analysis of a system represented by a combination of mathematical models of structural (mechanical), control, thermal, and optical characteristics. One example of such a system...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Thermal Lens Spectrometer Yields High Sensitivity
Thermal lens spectrometry is a highly sensitive method for detecting very small quantities of material by the absorption of light from a laser source. It takes advantage of the thermal lens effect to measure the absorption spectrum of a sample. This invention utilizes an optical parametric...
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