Photonics/Optics

Optics

Advanced optics technologies are essential to design engineers developing systems in manufacturing. Here are the latest technical briefs, products, and applications for design engineers working with optics technology.

Stories

INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Researchers Have Developed the World’s Smallest Ultrasound Detector

Researchers at Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed the world’s smallest ultrasound detector. Based on miniaturized...

INSIDER: Motion Control

Precision Landing Without a Pilot

For planned robotic and crewed missions to the Moon and Mars, NASA is developing and testing precise landing and hazard-avoidance technologies. A combination of laser sensors, a camera, a high-speed...

Application Briefs: Imaging

USB and GigE Connectivity for Modern Machine Vision

Learn the USB3 and GigE vision standards, how they keep pace with imaging technologies, and how augmenting the cabling is critical for optimal performance.

Application Briefs: Materials

Measuring Surface Roughness with an Atomic Force Microscope

Thin films and engineered surfaces are used in a myriad of applications including semiconductor electronics, data storage, and precision optics. In many cases, surface roughness and...

Products: Imaging

New Products

High-temp infrared emitter, single-frequency SWIR lasers, hazard testing systems, and more.

Special Reports: Test & Measurement

Test & Measurement - September 2020

See how the latest test tools and methodologies are enabling new applications in aerospace, electronics, robotics, healthcare, and other key industries. This compendium of recent articles is presented by the...

Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Breathable Electronics for Wearable Technologies

The material was designed specifically for biomedical or wearable technologies, since sweat and volatile organic compounds evaporate away from the skin.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Spider Silk Can Create Lenses Useful for Biological Imaging

One unexpected application for spider silk is its use in the creation of biocompatible lenses.

Briefs: Test & Measurement

Comb-on-a-Chip Optical Ruler Measures Colors of Light Waves

The newest version of these combs could revolutionize clocks, telescopes, and telecommunications.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Tunable, Chip-Based, Vortex Microlaser and Detector

This system encodes information in twisting beams of light.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Smart Windows Self-Illuminate on Rainy Days

Self-powering, color-changing humidity sensors are applicable to various fields including smart windows, health care, and safety management.

Briefs: Wearables

Markerless Motion Capture Technology Could Help Skeleton Athletes’ Training

A new type of motion capture technology accurately tracks an athlete during the push start phase of performance.

Briefs: Automotive

Pseudo-Random Coding Technique for 3D Imaging

This technique offers enhanced resolution and improved system reliability for mapping and obstacle recognition and navigation for vehicles.

Briefs: Test & Measurement

Enhanced Fabrication Improves Temperature Sensing in Cryogenic Humid Environments

This technology is useful for energy, industrial, and aerospace applications.

Briefs: Imaging

Graphene Smart Textiles for Heat-Adaptive Clothing

Smart adaptive clothing can lower the body temperature of the wearer in hot climates.

Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Ultrathin, Fully Packaged, High-Resolution Camera

Biologically inspired ultrathin arrayed camera captures super-resolution images.

Briefs: Test & Measurement

Tracking Lab-Grown Tissue with Light

A new proof-of-concept photonic pH sensor could advance studies of tissue regeneration.

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

Comb on a Chip Could Revolutionize Clocks, Telescopes, Telecommunications

Just as a meter stick with hundreds of tick marks can be used to measure distances with great precision, a device known as a laser frequency comb, with its hundreds...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

Using Sunlight to Save Satellites from Becoming ‘Space Junk’

Carolin Frueh is among only a handful of researchers who have persisted in using a complex technique that can diagnose a problem from thousands of miles away based on how a...

INSIDER: Energy

Transparent Graphene Electrodes Might Lead to New Generation of Solar Cells

A new way of making large sheets of high-quality, atomically thin graphene could lead to ultra-lightweight, flexible solar cells, and to new classes of...

Blog: Photonics/Optics

Answering Your Questions: Will the 2020 Mars Rover Have Back-Up Features?

A reader asks our NASA expert: "What kind of redundancy is built into the Mars 2020 rover?"

Technology Leaders: Materials

High Quality Optical Surfaces

Make sure the polished optic meets the requirement of a particular application.

Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Optical In-Line VCSEL Testing

In-line testing of certain LEDs, using nanosecond pulses, will become more and more relevant with time-of-flight applications.

Technology Leaders: Materials

ZERODUR: The Highly Technical Glass-Ceramic

Highly technical glass-ceramic delivers optical precision at nanometer scale.

Products: Imaging

New Products

High-speed cameras, ultra-stable mounts, automated inspection systems, and more...

Briefs: Lighting

A Combined Optical Transmitter and Receiver

Researchers at Linköping University, together with colleagues in China, have developed a tiny unit that is both an optical transmitter and a receiver.