Photonics & Imaging

Photonics/​Optics

Topics:

Explore the latest technical briefs and product breakthroughs in photonics and optics. Resources include breakthroughs in lasers, laser systems, fiber optics, optical components, and photonics.

Latest Briefs & News

Articles: Photonics/Optics
A longstanding partnership between Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) and Pratt & Whitney has resulted in a new laser-optical technology that aims to revolutionize in-flight thrust measurement.
Feature Image
Application Briefs: Materials
Given its effectiveness pretreating metal surfaces, industrial laser systems are increasingly being used in manufacturing facilities. The systems can be integrated into automated inline processing lines, or technicians can use mobile handheld units.
Feature Image
Application Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The race for very high resolutions places increased demands not only on display manufacturers, but also on the suppliers of light measurement technology.
Feature Image
Articles: Electronics & Computers
While the promise of smaller, better, faster, lighter devices enabled by integrated photonics technologies is indeed the ultimate goal for AIM Photonics, the actual path to high-volume manufacturing isn’t necessarily a smooth ride for PIC designers, developers, and engineers.
Feature Image
Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Efficient and complete chamber cleaning processes are critical for the success of CVD/ALD processes.
Feature Image
Briefs: Communications
Making Satellite, Ground Communication More Effective
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Moussa N’Gom has devised a method to make communications between satellites and the ground more effective — regardless of the weather.
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
A research team has made new discoveries that can expand additive manufacturing in industries that rely on strong metal parts, including aerospace.
Feature Image
Briefs: Lighting
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.
Feature Image
Briefs: Imaging
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.
Feature Image
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Researchers have demonstrated an energy-efficient method for transferring larger quantities of data over the fiber-optic cables that connect the nodes. This new technology improves on previous attempts to transmit multiple signals simultaneously over the same fiber-optic cables.
Feature Image
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
A team of researchers led by electrical engineer Marko Lončar at SEAS has developed a method for building a highly efficient integrated isolator that’s seamlessly incorporated into an optical chip made of lithium niobate.
Feature Image
Products: Photonics/Optics
See the new products, including a handheld NIR spectrometer, a Boson+ thermal camera module, next-generation pump laser diode, and much more.
Feature Image
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
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.
Feature Image
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
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.
Feature Image
Special Reports: Medical
Document cover
Camera & Imaging Innovations - August 2023

Read about the latest breakthroughs in AI-based machine vision, hyperspectral imaging, x-ray tomography, high-speed cameras, and more in this compilation of recent articles from the editors of Tech...

Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Portable Laser-Guided Robotic Metrology
Innovators at the NASA Glenn Research Center have developed the PLGRM system, which allows an installed antenna to be characterized in an aircraft hangar. All PLGRM components can be packed onto pallets, shipped, and easily operated.
Briefs: Lighting Technology

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...

Feature Image
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A novel nanostructure produces uniquely shaped light.
Feature Image
Briefs: Materials
3D nanometer-scale metamaterial structures hold promise for advanced optical isolators.
Feature Image
White Papers: Design
Document cover
Response Time of Semiconductor Photodiodes

The effect of displacement currents due to dielectric relaxation of majority carriers in the charge-neutral region of a semiconductor photodiode is discussed. The dielectric relaxation is often...

Special Reports: Software
Document cover
Space Technology - July 2023

Read about ten surging space startups, robotic construction on the moon, metal 3D printing in orbit, and much more in this compendium of recent articles from the editors of Tech Briefs and Aerospace & Defense...

Tech Talks: Photonics/Optics
Feature Image

As humans live increasingly longer lives, medical technology is improving the quality of those lives. To combat the rise in ailments such as obesity and cardiovascular disease that accompany longer...

White Papers: Photonics/Optics
Document cover
Optimizing System Performance: A Guide to Specifying Laser Modules

Laser modules play a critical role in many processes, and selecting the right laser module is essential to optimize system performance. This white paper examines the key...

White Papers: Test & Measurement
Document cover
High-Power Industrial Lasers: New Solutions to Old Problems

High-power laser systems are making their way into more and more industrial applications. From cutting steel, to drilling via holes in silicon, to marking plastic, a whole range of...

Briefs: Photonics/Optics
The "AOM" performs complex observations with ten observation modes and 175 strategies.
Feature Image
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Researchers are tapping into dynamically controlled LEDs to create a simple illumination system for 3D imaging.
Feature Image
Special Reports: Software
Document cover
ADAS/Connected Car - June 2023

In this compendium of articles from the editors of Automotive Engineering and ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle Engineering magazines, see how advances in computer simulation, lidar/sensors, display technology, and...

INSIDER: Manned Systems

Two NASA CubeSats designed to study tropical cyclones, including hurricanes and typhoons, are in orbit after a successful launch.

Feature Image
INSIDER: Connectivity

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

Feature Image

Videos