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: Sensors/Data Acquisition

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.

Technology Leaders: Photonics/Optics

Micro-Cameras Bring New Video Applications into Focus

Powerful, tiny cameras provide unique streaming-video solutions for NASA robots and defense applications.

Technology Leaders: RF & Microwave Electronics

Light Field Imaging Technology

Learn about light-field candidates like camera arrays, plenoptic cameras, active cameras with depth sensor, and the newly developed focal-stack camera.

INSIDER: Propulsion

High-Speed Infrared Reveals Safer Hypergolic Propellant

When SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule splashed down off the Florida coast in August following its first crewed mission, the two astronauts inside could not exit the capsule immediately....

INSIDER: Imaging

New Fiber Optic Temperature Sensing Approach Could Keep Fusion Power Plants Running

The pursuit of fusion as a safe, carbon-free, always-on energy source has intensified in recent years, with a number of organizations pursuing aggressive...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

New Products

IR and UV Optics Edmund Optics (EO) (Barrington, NJ) has released Zinc Selenide (ZnSe) Wedged Windows, which are ideal for infrared (IR) applications, and TECHSPEC® Calcium Fluoride (CaF2) Aspheric Lenses, which have high...

INSIDER: Imaging

SoloHI Imager Captures Rare Shot of Venus, Earth, Mars, and Uranus

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) and NASA’s Solar Orbiter Heliospheric Imager (SoloHI) recently recorded an image showing three of the four inner rocky planets. The...

Special Reports: Robotics, Automation & Control

Test & Measurement - February 2021

Sensors to search for ancient life on Mars...nano-thermometers that could revolutionize temperature measurement...a major advance in semiconductor testing. These are just a few of the technologies you'll read...

Articles: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Modern HMI Software Propels Industry 4.0

Once confined to the role of machine visualization, modern unified HMI software now delivers better user interfaces, containerization, and remote device management.

Products: Robotics, Automation & Control

New Products

Industrial robots, motor disconnect switches, position sensors, and more.

Briefs: Lighting

Compound for Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs)

The material could enable cheaper and more environmentally friendly displays and large-area lighting.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

A Near-Perfect Blackbody Calibration Target

This rapid and cost-effective technique yields a uniform etched surface with 99.5 percent emissivity.

Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Niobium Titanium Nitride Thin Film Coating

Applications include terahertz medical imaging and communications.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Kodiak 3D LiDAR

This system provides low-cost, reliable 3D LiDAR images in nearly any lighting condition.

Briefs: Imaging

Manufacturing Ultra-Thin Camera Lenses

Ultra-thin and flexible metalenses could replace traditional camera lenses.

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

New Products

Bandpass Filters MidOpt® (Palatine, IL) introduced the BP450 Indigo Bandpass and the BN450 Narrow Indigo Bandpass, two new filters designed for multi-application use. The BP450 enhances the viewing of subjects illuminated by a...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

Large-Area Flexible Organic Photodiodes Can Compete with Silicon Devices

The performance of flexible large-area organic photodiodes has advanced to the point that they can now offer advantages over conventional silicon photodiode...

INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Combining Electronic, Photonic Chips Enables Super-Fast Quantum Light Detection

Researchers from the University of Bristol’s Quantum Engineering Technology Labs (QET Labs) and Université Côte d‘Azur have made a new miniaturized light...

INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Orbiting Instrument Hints That Stored Magnetic Energy Heats Solar Atmosphere

A phenomenon first detected in the solar wind may help solve a long-standing mystery about the sun: why the solar atmosphere is millions of degrees hotter than the...

Special Reports: Test & Measurement

Optics & Photonics Innovations - January 2021

An ultrafast camera that takes up to one trillion pictures per second...using light alone to levitate objects and propel spacecraft...the groundbreaking optics enabling the world's most powerful...