Photonics & Imaging

Imaging

Your destination for advances in imaging systems, machine vision, visualization software, and human-machine interfaces (HMIs) technologies. Design engineers can access news, technical briefs, applications, and product developments.

Stories

Briefs: Communications

Insect-Scale Robots Take Flight

Researchers built electroluminescent soft artificial muscles for flying, insect-scale robots.

Special Reports: Imaging

Special Report: Optics & Photonics Innovations - July 2022

The most powerful telescope ever launched, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will peer back in time to the birth of the universe's first stars. Learn about its highly advanced optics...

Special Reports: Electronics & Computers

Rugged Computing & Electronics - June 2022

From the battlefield to the extremes of space, electronics and computing advances enable missions in the harshest conditions. Keep pace with the latest developments in this compendium of recent...

Briefs: Imaging

Filter Enhances Robot Vision on 6D Pose Estimation

Robots are good at making identical repetitive movements such as a simple task on an assembly line. But they lack the ability to perceive objects as they move through an environment. A recent...

Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control

Robot Senses Hidden Objects

Researchers have developed a robot that uses radio waves, which can pass through walls, to sense occluded objects. The robot, called RF-Grasp, combines this powerful sensing with more traditional computer vision to...

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

A Laser-Based Volumetric Additive Manufacturing Method to 3D Print Glass

Traditional glassmaking techniques can be costly and slow, and 3D printing glass often results in rough textures, making them unsuitable for smooth lenses. Using a new...

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Shaping Light with a Dynamically Tunable Smart Lens

The importance of optical image quality and the trend toward thinner smart-phones have pushed manufacturers to increase the number of cameras in order to provide cellphones with better zoom,...

Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Shaping Light Enables 2D Microscopes to Capture 4D Data

Super temporal resolution microscopy allows imaging of fluorescent molecules 20 times faster than traditional lab cameras normally allow. A general method has been developed to let a...

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

High-Power Terahertz Laser for Sensing and Imaging

A terahertz laser was developed with high constant power, tight beam pattern, and broad electric frequency tuning for a wide range of applications in chemical sensing and imaging. The optimized...

Briefs: Motion Control

An Artificial Intelligence System to Identify Objects in Cluttered Scenes

Robotic vision has come a long way, reaching a level of sophistication with applications in complex and demanding tasks, such as autonomous driving and object...

Special Reports: Electronics & Computers

Aerospace Manufacturing - May 2022

Demanding applications in the aerospace industry require products and systems that are manufactured using advanced technologies – in additive manufacturing, machining, metrology, and more. To help you keep...

Question of the Week: Photonics/Optics

Will inserting lenses inside blood vessels become a practical tool for diagnosing disease?

Researchers have developed a camera-like imaging device that can be inserted into blood vessels to provide high-quality 3D images to help scientists better understand the causes of heart attack and heart disease progression and could lead to improved...

INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control

Joystick-Operated Robot Could Help Surgeons Treat Stroke Remotely

MIT engineers have developed a telerobotic system to help surgeons quickly and remotely treat patients experiencing a stroke or aneurysm. With a modified joystick, surgeons...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

Photonic Quantum Computer Made in Germany

Everyone is talking about quantum computers. By interconnecting as many qubits (two-state quantum systems) as possible, massive amounts of data can be processed more easily, quickly and securely in...

INSIDER: Test & Measurement

Sapphire Fiber Could Enable Cleaner Energy and Air-Travel

Researchers at Oxford University have used a sapphire optical fiber – a thread of industrially grown sapphire less than half a millimeter thick – that can withstand temperatures...

INSIDER: Imaging

New Products

Software CRAIC Technologies (San Dimas, CA) announced that CRAIC Technologies microspectrometers will now feature Windows 11 operating systems in which CRAIC Lambdafire™ instrument control and spectral analysis software will...

INSIDER: Research Lab

High-Power Laser Being Constructed for New Experimental Facility

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s expertise in developing high-energy lasers is being tapped to provide a key component of a major upgrade to SLAC National...

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Tiny Optical Elements Could Replace Traditional Refractive Lenses

Researchers have developed tiny optical elements from metal nanoparticles and a polymer that could replace traditional refractive lenses to realize portable imaging systems and...

Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control

Developing a Flexible Polymer with Robust Piezoelectric Effectiveness

A Penn State-led team of interdisciplinary researchers developed a polymer with robust piezoelectric effectiveness, resulting in 60 percent more efficient electricity...

Articles: Communications

Using CoaXPress-over-Fiber for High-Speed Machine Vision

High-speed digital imaging expands the benefits of traditional machine vision (MV), transforming it from a process control tool into a diagnostic tool. Traditional MV systems use...

Articles: Defense

Understanding Cryocooled Infrared System Reliability

Where the ability to detect mid-wave infrared (MWIR) radiation is mission critical, readiness and the importance of long, maintenance-free infrared (IR) system operation is vital. In...

Products: Photonics/Optics

New Products

Plasma Deposition Process Alluxa, Inc. (Santa Rosa, CA) recently introduced its next-generation SIRRUS™ plasma physical vapor deposition (PVD) platform offering full spectral coverage from ultraviolet (200 μm) to infrared...

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Terahertz Energy Focused by Credit Card-Sized Device to Generate High-Resolution Images

Researchers have created a device that enables them to electronically steer and focus a beam of terahertz electromagnetic energy with extreme precision....

Briefs: RF & Microwave Electronics

5G Strobe Light: NIST Imaging System Spotlights the Tiny Mechanical Hearts at the Core of Every Cellphone

Inside every cellphone lies a tiny mechanical heart, beating several billion times a second. These micromechanical resonators play an...

Technology Leaders: Test & Measurement

Determining Dynamic Object Tracking Accuracy

There is already a wide body of work in which assessments of various motion capture systems have produced a wide range of different results. These studies produce useful and relevant results for...