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

Facility Focus: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Facility Focus: Georgia Tech Research Institute

The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is the nonprofit applied research division of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta, GA. Founded in 1934 as the Engineering...

Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Optical Coatings Technology

Optical coatings are critical for enhancing the transmission, reflection, polarization, and phase of light incident upon and passing through optical components. There are many different technologies used to fabricate...

Products: Imaging

New Products

Micromachining Subsystem SCANLAB GmbH (Puchheim, Germany) has introduced a new member of its precSYS product line. Five-axis precSYS subsystems enable industrial ultra-short-pulse (USP) laser micromachining of flexible, definable...

Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Machine Vision Applications in Laser Measurement Systems

Machine vision is a broad term with many applications and definitions, but at its most basic definition it is using an imager or camera along with software to inspect and analyze a real...

Articles: Photonics/Optics

Machine Vision Camera Trends: 2019 and Beyond

Each passing year, machine vision is finding its way into applications that were not commercially feasible — and in some cases, impossible.

Articles: Energy

Products of Tomorrow

Semi-Liquid Metal Anode for Next-Generation Batteries Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have developed a semi-liquid lithium metal-based anode. Lithium batteries made using this new electrode type could have a...

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Organic Carbon-Nitride Semiconductor

Some organic materials cannot be utilized similarly to silicon semiconductors in optoelectronics. Whether in solar cells, light-emitting diodes, or in transistors, what is important is the bandgap, i.e. the...

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Material for Faster Computer Memory

Scientists are studying bismuth ferrite (BFO) material that has the potential to store information much more efficiently than is currently possible. BFO could also be used in sensors, transducers, and other electronics.

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Robot “Eye” Provides 360° Field of View

The production of precision products depends on robot control systems knowing the location of the adhesive bonding head or welding head to the nearest millimeter at all times. This means the robot...

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Mobile, Dual-Comb Device for Methane Leak Detection

Accurately detecting, locating, and quantifying leaks of methane — the main component of natural gas and a major fuel source worldwide — is critically important for both environmental and...

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Laser-Pointing System Transmits Data from Tiny Satellites

Since 1998, almost 2,000 shoebox-sized satellites known as CubeSats have been launched into space. Due to their small frame and the fact that they can be made from off-the-shelf parts,...

Briefs: Imaging

Optical Distance Measurement at Record-High Speed

Scientists of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and École Poly-technique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have reported that they achieved the fastest distance measurement attained so far....

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Calibration Method Improves Scientific Research Performed with Smartphone Cameras

Although smartphones and other consumer cameras are increasingly used for scientific applications, it's difficult to compare and combine data from different...

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Visualizing Motion of Water Molecules for Liquid-Based Electronics

A high-resolution inelastic x-ray scattering technique was used to measure the strong bond involving a hydrogen atom sandwiched between two oxygen atoms. This hydrogen bond is a quantum-mechanical phenomenon responsible for various properties of water, including viscosity, that...

Briefs: Materials

Controlling Thermal Conductivity of Polymers with Light

Polymers are regularly used as thermal insulators and can even be used as thermal conductors to enable efficient heating or cooling. A new type of polymer was created that demonstrates a...

Articles: Imaging

Image Warping Caused by Heat-Induced Turbulence

It is well known from astronomical imaging that various atmospheric conditions and weather effects have an impact on image quality. This is due to local changes of the refractive index of the air...

INSIDER Product: Photonics/Optics

New Products

Blue Pulsed Laser Diode Module OSI Laser Diode (LDI) (Edison, NJ) launched a blue 450-nm pulsed laser diode module that includes an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device. The new CVB 450-TO56R gallium nitride (GaN) laser...

Articles: Photonics/Optics

The Sensors Behind the GEN II Wearable Device

The population is aging and more people need healthcare support, which is having a big impact on the overall cost of medical care. As a result, authorities and health insurance companies are putting...

Products: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

New Products

Fully Automated Beam Monitoring System Ophir-Spiricon (North Logan, UT) has announced Ophir® BeamWatch® Integrated, a fully automated, non-contact laser measurement system designed to measure critical beam parameters in...

Articles: Imaging

Inspection of Bulk Material with Trilinear Line-Scan and Prism Cameras

Traditionally, prism-based cameras are often selected over trilinear cameras when it comes to bulk material scanning, as the inherent line-shift of a trilinear camera can...

Articles: Photonics/Optics

Design of an Energy-Efficient Critical Angle Lens Reflector

The critical angle lens reflector has commercial applications that supersede ordinary mirrored reflectors. The physics of the critical angle lens reflector are based on the optics...

Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Enhancing the Capabilities of High-Speed CMOS Image Sensors

For many years now, CMOS (Complementary, Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) based sensors have dominated the high-speed imaging market. Cameras are being released with ever-higher headline...

Articles: Test & Measurement

Key Trends in Custom Optics for Aerospace

The convergence of “new” materials, improved free-form shape fabrication, and changes in the aerospace marketplace has transformed the previously static field of custom optics into a very dynamic...

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Revolutionary Camera Allows Scientists to Predict Evolution of Ancient Stars

Scientists at the University of Sheffield have been working with HiPERCAM, a high-speed, multicolor camera, which is capable of taking more than 1,000 images per...

Products: Green Design & Manufacturing

New on the Market: July 2019

Sensor Controller The induSENSOR MSC7401 sensor controller from Micro-Epsilon, Ortenburg, Germany, is used for displacement and distance measurements and is operated with LVDT and LDR measuring gauges and...