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

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Briefs: Medical
Engineers at Duke University have developed a way to extract a sequence of images from light scattered through a mostly opaque material — or even off a wall — from one long...
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Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
Light of different colors travels at different speeds in different materials and structures. This is why we see white light split into its constituent colors after refracting through a...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Ultrashort optical pulses are becoming more and more relevant in a number of applications including distance measurement, molecular fingerprinting and ultrafast sampling. Many...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Optimetric Measurements Over Coherent Free-Space Optical Communication
High-precision ranging (optimetric) instruments are highly desired for both space navigation and communications as well as gravitational-based science missions. Traditionally, these measurements are made with instruments solely dedicated to ranging (i.e. Doppler shift of a...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
NASA Langley Research Center has developed a novel optical grating device that dynamically modulates light and is capable of controlling the spectral properties and propagation of light...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
There are challenges involved when using magnetically responsive materials to achieve the one-way flow of light in a photonic chip, including the ability to place compact magnets on a chip. In...
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
Active Pointing Monitor for a 2-Axis Optical Control System
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has developed a pointing measurement detection and control system that monitors the real-time optical axis motions (such as tip and tilt) that affect image quality in aerial platforms. To date, there is no known real-time optical image alignment and control...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Gyroscopes are devices that help vehicles, drones, and wearable and handheld electronic devices know their orientation in three-dimensional space. Originally, gyroscopes were sets of nested wheels, each spinning on a...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A process has been developed that enables the production of a 2-mm flat camera. The lens is partitioned into 135 tiny facets, similar to the eyes of an insect. The facetVISION camera is suitable...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
The first laser based on the wave physics phenomenon called bound states in the continuum (BIC) has been developed. The technology could revolutionize the development of surface lasers,...
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The detection and localization of gas releases, such as methane from leaking natural gas pipelines or nitrogen oxides from failing electrical equipment, require high sensitivity to the target gas and insensitivity to...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Spectrometers are widely used for applications such as chemical analysis, remote sensing, quality control, environmental monitoring, spaceborne measurements, and optical measurements. Most spectrometers are...
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Briefs: Imaging
A blue-light imaging method was developed that can be used to obtain visual data from large test fires where high temperatures could disable or destroy conventional electrical and mechanical sensors. The...
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Most naturally occurring materials have a disordered atomic structure that interferes with the propagation of both sound and electromagnetic waves. When the waves come into contact with these...
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INSIDER: Test & Measurement
A team of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis was the first to successfully record environmental data using a wireless photonic sensor resonator with a...
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INSIDER: Materials
New lead halide perovskite nanocrystals developed by researchers from NUS Chemistry could soon mean cheaper X-rays and computerized tomography (CT) scans involving lower levels of...
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INSIDER Product: Photonics/Optics
Telecentric Lenses Edmund Optics (EO) (Barrington, NJ) has introduced TECHSPEC® MercuryTL™ Liquid Lens Telecentric Lenses. These integrated lenses utilize the unique features of telecentric lenses, such as eliminating parallax...
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Products: Imaging
Thermography Systems Advanced Thermal Solutions, Norwood, MA, announced the tvLYT™ liquid crystal thermography system that provides a portable solution for temperature measurement of electronics, circuit...
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Products: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Optical Monitoring System The SpectraLock Optical Monitoring System from Eddy Company (Apple Valley, CA) provides in-situ monitoring and deposition rate control to produce single- and multi-layered thin films with exacting...
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Articles: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Reliability and longevity directly impact the cost of using Q-switched, diode pumped, solid state, ultraviolet lasers in industrial applications. Damage to the intracavity harmonic crystal is often...
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Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Attitude detection is a crucial element in aircraft and spacecraft navigation. The motion of an aircraft consists of a translational component (motion of its center of mass with respect to...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Traditional cameras — even those on the thinnest cellphones — cannot be truly flat due to their optics. The lenses require a certain shape and size in order to function. A new camera design...
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Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
One current method to build a semiconductor superlattice — materials comprised of alternating layers of ultra-thin, two-dimensional sheets only one or a few...
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Briefs: Imaging
MIT researchers have designed an optical filter on a chip that can process optical signals from across an extremely wide spectrum of light at once, something never before...
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Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
With novel optoelectronic chips and a new partnership with a top silicon-chip manufacturer, MIT spinout Ayar Labs aims to increase speed and reduce energy consumption in computing, starting with...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
MIT researchers have developed novel photography optics that capture images based on the timing of reflecting light inside the optics instead of the traditional approach...
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Articles: Photonics/Optics
INVISIBLE GLASS Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN) has developed a method for creating surface nanotextures that effectively eliminates...
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Application Briefs: Aerospace
The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), under construction atop 8,737-foot El Peñón peak in northern Chile, is a partnership project of the National Science...
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Products: Software
Multi-Voltage Motors Simotics SD Pro low-voltage motors from Siemens (Munich, Germany) are suited for mains-fed operation or with a converter for voltages up to 690 volts. There is generally no need to use special filters at the...
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