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

35
66
0
630
30
Briefs: Imaging
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...
Feature Image
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
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...
Feature Image
Briefs: Nanotechnology
Ultrashort optical pulses are becoming more and more relevant in a number of applications including distance measurement, molecular fingerprinting and ultrafast sampling. Many...
Feature Image
Briefs: Test & Measurement
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: Test & Measurement
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...
Feature Image
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...
Feature Image
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: Electronics & Computers
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...
Feature Image
Briefs: Imaging
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...
Feature Image
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
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,...
Feature Image
Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
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...
Feature Image
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Spectrometers are widely used for applications such as chemical analysis, remote sensing, quality control, environmental monitoring, spaceborne measurements, and optical measurements. Most spectrometers are...
Feature Image
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...
Feature Image
Briefs: Medical
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...
Feature Image
INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
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...
Feature Image
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...
Feature Image
Products: Test & Measurement
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...
Feature Image
Facility Focus: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL, Liver-more, CA) was established in 1952 at the height of the Cold War to meet urgent national security needs by advancing nuclear weapons...
Feature Image
Products: Photonics/Optics
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...
Feature Image
Articles: Motion Control
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...
Feature Image
Application Briefs: Aerospace
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...
Feature Image
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...
Feature Image
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
One current method to build a semiconductor superlattice — materials comprised of alternating layers of ultra-thin, two-dimensional sheets only one or a few...
Feature Image
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
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...
Feature Image
Briefs: Automotive
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...
Feature Image
Briefs: Imaging
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...
Feature Image
Articles: Materials
INVISIBLE GLASS Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN) has developed a method for creating surface nanotextures that effectively eliminates...
Feature Image
Application Briefs: Data Acquisition
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...
Feature Image
Products: Test & Measurement
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...
Feature Image

Videos