Photonics/Optics

Optical Components

Access the latest technology advances in optical components and systems. Design engineers will find technical briefs and applications that are being used throughout industry.

Stories

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Diffraction Suppressed Mirror

Precise optical systems, especially those sensitive to information loss, are typically designed to minimize the use of mirrors. This is due to the Airy disk effect inherent to all conventional mirrors, which is a result of diffraction of the incident light. This effect represents information loss between the incident...

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Compact Laser Source Detects Pollution

A middle infrared light source can detect greenhouse and other gases as well as molecules in a person’s breath. The compact system, which resembles a tiny suitcase, contains just two parts: a standard...

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,...

Question of the Week: Imaging

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: Imaging

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: Photonics/Optics

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...

Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Challenges of Coating Aspheric Lenses

Aspheric lenses let optical system designers improve resolution, reduce the number of lens elements required, and increase system light throughput. Their complex, non-spherical surfaces correct for more...

Products: Test & Measurement

New on the Market: May 2022

Dual Locking C14 IEC Connector The SG03DC from MEGA Electronics, New Brunswick, NJ, contains side locking tabs similar to the Raritan Securelock. It will mate with any standard nonlocking C13 Outlet along with...

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: Nanotechnology

New Optical Component Used to Create AR/VR Headsets and Eyewear

Consumers are looking for augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) glasses that are compact and easy to wear, delivering high-quality imagery with socially acceptable optics that...

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

New Family of Glass for Lens Applications

A new composition of germanosili-cate glass created by adding zinc oxide has properties good for lens applications. The new family of zinc germanosilicate glass has a high refractive index comparable to...

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

Nanoscale 3D Structure to Control Light

3D nanometer-scale metamaterial structures hold promise for advanced optical isolators.

Briefs: Imaging

Flexible Imaging Device

3D micro-printing was used to develop this small, flexible scope for looking inside blood vessels.

INSIDER: Imaging

NIST Creates Strobe Light to Test 5G Resonators

Inside every cellphone is a tiny mechanical heart, beating several billion times a second. These micromechanical resonators play an essential role in cellphone communication. Buffeted by the...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

New Products

Two-Axis Laser Scan Head Aerotech Inc. (Pittsburgh, PA) has released the AGV-XPO, a high-dynamic, two-axis laser scan head that combines low-inertia, high-efficiency motors with ultra-high resolution position feedback and...

Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Visualizing Value at the Speed of Light

See how hyperspectral imaging adds value to food inspection systems.

Articles: Photonics/Optics

A Primer on Solid-State Lasers

See how solid-state lasers have grown and diversified over the years.

Articles: Photonics/Optics

500°C-Rated Optical Fiber for High Temperature Applications

A metal-coated fiber capable of withstands high temperatures.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Nano Flashlight Enables New Applications of Light

Design of miniature optical systems could lead to future cell phones that can detect viruses and more.

Briefs: Test & Measurement

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%.

Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition

New Device Modulates Visible Light with the Smallest Footprint and Lowest Power Consumption

Columbia researchers are reducing both the size and the power consumption of a visible-spectrum phase modulator, from one millimeter to 10 microns.

Application Briefs: Aerospace

Measuring Aggressive Launch Loads on Spacecraft

What began as a research tool to collect aerodynamic data from research aircraft is now solving technical challenges for NASA.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Using Magnets to Toggle Nanolasers Leads to Better Photonics

A new control mechanism may prove useful in devices that make use of optical signals.

Special Reports: Tubing & Extrusion

Medical Manufacturing & Outsourcing - February 2022

How virtual, cloud-based technologies are powering the next industrial revolution...transforming plastic parts into high-value products...designing optics for medical 3D printing. Read these...