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: Photonics/Optics

NIST Improves the Ability of Optical Microscopes to Measure the Volume of Microdroplets

For the first time, a team has measured the volume of individual droplets smaller than 100 trillionths of a liter, with an uncertainty of less than 1%.

Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Visualizing Value at the Speed of Light

See how hyperspectral imaging adds value to food inspection systems.

Technology Leaders: Imaging

How Indium Gallium Arsenide (InGaAs) Improves SWIR Sensing

InGaAs is interesting, but is it useful?

Question of the Week: Imaging

Would You Use ‘PocketView?’

Ever need your phone but your hands are full? A new display being developed at the University of Waterloo uses LEDs to display phone messages through fabrics. The “PocketView” shows notifications for email or messages, time, weather, or other forms of basic information.

Briefs: AR/AI

Artificial Intelligence Magnifies the Utility of Electron Microscopes

An AI framework enables scientists to improve an imaging technique, enhancing the performance of electron microscopes.

INSIDER: Electronics & Computers

Fabricating Stable, High-Mobility Transistors for Next-generation Display Technologies

The trade-off between carrier mobility and stability in amorphous oxide semiconductor-based thin film transistors (TFTs) has been finally overcome by...

Briefs: Nanotechnology

Chemistry Discovery Could Remove Micropollutants from the Environment

This approach could result in developing chemical sensors that are sensitive at a very low level to a specific chemical in the environment.

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Smart Displays Show Information Through Fabric

The technology shines through fabrics to show notifications for email messages, time, weather, or other forms of basic information.

Briefs: Imaging

Progressive Band Selection for Hyperspectral Images

This system enables fast analysis of hyperspectral images in disaster response or target detection scenarios.

Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition

High-Definition Millimeter-Wave Body Scanner

In an airport, the scanner could eliminate the need for passengers to remove shoes at the checkpoint, speeding the screening process.

Briefs: Wearables

Multi-Shot Lensless Camera

The camera could have uses in faster disease diagnosis and thinner cellphones.

Briefs: Wearables

System Uses Smartphone or Computer Cameras to Measure Health

The camera captures pulse and respiration signals from a video of a person’s face.

Briefs: Imaging

Electronic Paper Displays Brilliant Colors

Using ambient light, the reflective screen keeps energy consumption to a minimum.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Sub-Pixel Spatial Resolution Interferometry

Applications include aircraft-mounted and space-based interferometers, electronics fabrication, and military optics.

5 Ws: Sensors/Data Acquisition

5 Ws of the Portable Braille Display

Imagine a tablet or Kindle that can display braille on command for the visually impaired.

Blog: Photonics/Optics

SPIE Photonics West 2022: Reality Versus Virtual Reality

There are some things you just can't do at a virtual trade show. Editor Bruce A. Bennett walks the floor at SPIE Photonics West.

INSIDER: Aerospace

The James Webb Space Telescope Successfuly Launches

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope successfully launched on December 25 on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, South America. A joint effort with ESA (European...

INSIDER: Test & Measurement

Fundamental Particles Modelled in Beam of Light

Scientists at the University of Birmingham have succeeded in creating an experimental model of an elusive kind of fundamental particle called a skyrmion in a beam of light. The breakthrough...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

New Products

Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) QVGA Camera Attollo Engineering (Camarillo, CA) has introduced a quarter-VGA format camera (320 x 256 resolution), based on indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) shortwave infrared technology. The miniature...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

Testing Sensors in Fog to Make Future Transportation Safer

Self-flying drones and autonomous taxis that can safely operate in fog may sound futuristic, but new research at Sandia National Laboratories’ fog facility is bringing the future...

Question of the Week: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Would You Use A.I-Driven Laser Cutters like SensiCut?

Laser cutters are a popular tool for today’s design engineers. Users, however, still face difficulties distinguishing among stockpiles of metals, woods, papers, and plastics.

Special Reports: Imaging

Space Technology - January 2022

Read about the most powerful telescope ever launched into space, the NASA rocket that will carry humans back to the moon, the nanosatellites that are dramatically reducing the cost of space science, and much more...

Products: Electronics & Computers

Product of the Month

The PM-50 graphical panel meter is available as a 3.5" or 4.3" graphical touchscreen display.

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Ultra-Thin Sensor for Smart Contact Lenses

Engineers have developed a sensor system and manufacturing process for smart contact lenses. The sensor system contains a photodetector for receiving optical information, a temperature sensor for...