Lighting

Optical Concentration Sensor for Liquid Solution

The optical concentration sensor has been demonstrated to effectively measure pretreat concentrations in both still and flowing liquid conditions and is resistant to contamination issues as necessitated by the UWMS.

10 Tech-Savvy Holiday Gifts for Engineers

Choosing a present for an engineer is almost as daunting as performing the tasks of an engineer. With that in mind, we here at Tech Briefs aim to make your life easier with regards to the former.

AI-Powered Robot Control Optimizes a Challenging Handling Process

Like other small and medium-sized enterprises, HWL Löttechnik GmbH faces the realities of labor shortages, the ongoing energy crisis, and the intricate nature of production processes. To overcome these challenges, HWL adopted state-of-the-art technologies and the optimization of operational processes.

Comparing Sensitivity of Thermal Imaging Cameras Modules

Engineers developing products or systems incorporating thermal cameras need to clearly understand the critical design specifications, including scene dynamic range, field of view, resolution, sensitivity, and spectral range, to name a few.

New Blue Light Technique Could Enable Advances in Understanding Nanoscale Technologies

With a new microscopy technique that uses blue light to measure electrons in semiconductors and other nanoscale materials, a team of researchers is opening a new realm of possibilities in the study of these critical components, which can help power devices like mobile phones and laptops.

Algae-Powered Devices Inspired by Bioluminescent Waves

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed soft devices containing algae that glow in the dark when experiencing mechanical stress, such as being squished, stretched, twisted, or bent.

Multicolored Light-Emitting Array on a Single Chip

A team of researchers demonstrated the first light-emitting array with 49 different colors on a single chip. This novel optoelectronic device is built on metal-oxide semiconductor capacitors.

Photonic Crystals Bend Light as Though It Were Under the Influence of Gravity

A collaborative group of researchers has manipulated the behavior of light as if it were under the influence of gravity. The findings, which were published in the...

Touchless Switches Provide a Hygienic User Interface Option

Touchless switches are an ideal solution for industries such as food, beverage, pharmaceuticals, medical, and chemicals where sanitary design is important. They are also useful for protecting the well-being of users in everyday commercial applications.

A Thin, Flexible OLED Display

Imagine a thin, digital display so flexible that you can wrap it around your wrist, fold it in any direction, or even curve it over your car’s steering wheel. Well, imagine no more — researchers at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago have designed such a material.

Novel Light-Field Sensor for 3D Scene Construction Has Unprecedented Angular Resolution

A research team has developed a 3D imaging sensor that has an extremely high angular resolution — it can distinguish points of an object separated by an angular distance, of as little as 0.0018°. The sensor operates on a unique angle-to-color conversion principle.

NeuWS Camera Overcomes Light Scattering With Full-Motion Video

Engineers have created full-motion video technology that could potentially be used to make cameras that peer through fog, smoke, driving rain, murky water, skin, bone, and other media that reflect scattered light and obscure objects from view.

New Microchip Could Monitor Earth’s Climate, Human Health

A team at Delft University of Technology has built a new technology on a microchip by combining two Nobel Prize-winning techniques for the first time. This microchip could measure distances in materials at high precision — e.g., underwater or for medical imaging.

Synthesizing Complex Optical Materials

Researchers have developed a colloidal synthesis method for alkaline earth chalcogenides. This method allows them to control the size of the nanocrystals in the material.

Six Considerations When Choosing Machine Vision in Collaborative Applications

Machine vision dates back to the beginning of the modern industrial robot age in the 1980s. Augmenting cobots with vision allows them to perform with higher precision, flexibility, and intelligence. However, integration is not a one-size-fits-all process.

Strengthening Electron-Triggered Light Emission

A wavelength of visible light is about 1,000 times larger than an electron, so the way the two affect each other is limited by that disparity. Now, researchers have come up with a way to make...

Researchers Acquire 3D Images with LED Room Lighting and a Smartphone

Researchers are tapping into dynamically controlled LEDs to create a simple illumination system for 3D imaging.

Light-Based Computing Scheme Reduces Power Needed to Mine Cryptocurrencies

Researchers have developed a new light-based computing scheme that uses a photonic integrated circuit to reduce the energy necessary for cryptocurrency and...

How Artificial Intelligence Makes Quality Traceable Down to Component Level

Manufacturers can meet industry requirements thanks to the exact inspection of the individual components that is continuously improved using AI.

Gecko-Inspired Climbing Soft Robot

The new robot, developed by engineers at the University of Waterloo, uses ultraviolet (UV) light and magnetic force to move on any surface, even up walls and across ceilings.

Ultrafast Beam-Steering Breakthrough at Sandia Labs

The ability to control light using a semiconductor device could allow low-power, relatively inexpensive sources like LEDs or flashlight bulbs to replace more powerful laser beams in new technologies.

Light-Based Optical Computing for Ultrafast Electronics

Physicists achieved optical switching of a light signal at attosecond speeds to reach previously unattainable data transfer speeds.

New on the Market

See what's new, including a new series of ultra-miniature isolated single and dual-output high voltage DC-DC converters and new line of industrial interconnects.

Micro Light-Emitting Diodes for VLC

Light-emitting diode (LED) solid-state lighting technology offers low power consumption and cost, small size, and a long lifespan. Plus, it’s environmentally friendly.

Lighting the Way to Sustainability with PoE

Commercial buildings are responsible for roughly 18 percent of the total energy consumed in this country.

Strengthening Electron-Triggered Light Emission

The way electrons interact with photons of light is a key part of many modern technologies, from lasers to solar panels to LEDs. But the interaction is inherently a weak one because of a major...

Self-Cleaning Germicidal Door Handle

To overcome the limitations of using cleaning agents, sprays, or bulky high-cost sterilizing systems, NASA developed the Ultraviolet Germicidal Door Handle.

Reflection-Reducing Imaging System for Machine Vision Applications

The imaging system tested in NASA wind tunnels can reduce or eliminate shadows that occur when using many existing BOS and photogrammetric measurement systems.

UV-to-Red-Light Converting Films Accelerate Plant Growth

An interdisciplinary team from Hokkaido University’s Engineering and Agriculture departments and the Institute for Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery (WPI-ICReDD) has developed...