Photonics/​Optics

Photonics

Find the latest news and technical briefs on next-generation photonics technologies. Learn more about applications like biophotonics, silicon photonics, and green photonics.

Latest Briefs & News

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Special Reports: Software
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Optics & Photonics Innovations - November 2025
Photonic processor enables ultrafast AI computations…how new polishing technique could revolutionize optical manufacturing…facial mapping technology is a leap forward in augmented reality. Read...

INSIDER: Information Technology
A few years ago, researchers in Michal Lipson’s Columbia Engineering lab noticed something remarkable. They were working on a project to design high-power chips that could...
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Special Reports: Defense
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Unmanned Aerial Vehicles & Systems - October 2025
Lasers vs. drones: military demonstrates new tech…high-‐flying uncrewed solar aircraft aces key test…the next frontier for autonomous UAVs. Read about these and other developments in this...

Special Reports: Communications
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RF & Microwave Electronics - October 2025
Critical advantages and challenges of using laser communications in space…the future of EMI protection for military aircraft…new "micro comb" chips promise to improve GPS accuracy. Read about these...

Blog: Imaging
Researchers have used the centuries-old idea of pinhole imaging to create a high-performance mid-infrared imaging system without lenses. The new camera can capture extremely clear pictures over a large range of distances and in low light, making it useful for situations that are challenging for traditional cameras.
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White Papers: Photonics/Optics
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ATEX-Certified QCL Sensor Advances Petrochemical Safety and Efficiency with Ultra-Sensitive Sulfur Detection
Triple-QCL design, powered by Wavelength Electronics QCL drivers, delivers reliable, real-time, and simultaneous monitoring of multiple...

Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Known as FOSS (for fiber optic sensing system), NASA’s technology portfolio combines advanced sensors and innovative algorithms into a robust package that accurately and cost-effectively monitors a host of critical parameters in real time. Read on to learn more.
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INSIDER: Photonics/Optics
The Silicon Technology for Applications Relying on Light with Photonics Devices (STARLight) project brings together a consortium of leading industrial and...
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5 Ws: Photonics/Optics
North Carolina State University engineers have built a tiny spectrometer that is orders of magnitude smaller than current technologies and can accurately measure wavelengths of light from ultraviolet to the near infrared.
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Products: RF & Microwave Electronics
See the new products, including Corning Incorporated's Corning® Gorilla® Glass Ceramic; Epoxy Technology's EPO-TEK®353NDP, a high-performance, humidity-resistant epoxy; Edmund Optics' off-the-shelf HOLO/OR Diffractive Diffusers and Beamsplitters; Teledyne Technologies subsidiary FLIR's advanced multispectral imaging solution; and much more.
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Articles: Photonics/Optics
DPSS lasers are a critical enabling technology for meeting the precision materials processing demands of advanced packaging. Both nanosecond and USP lasers can achieve excellent results, but the right choice depends on specific requirements. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: AR/AI
AI systems like ChatGPT are notorious for being power-hungry. To tackle this challenge, a team from the Centre for Optics, Photonics and Lasers has come up with an optical chip that can transfer massive amounts of data at ultra-high speed. As thin as a strand of hair, this technology offers unrivaled energy efficiency. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
As fast as modern electronics have become, they could be much faster if their operations were based on light, rather than electricity. Fiber optic cables already transport information at the speed of light, but to do computations on that information without translating it back to electric signals will require a host of new optical components. Researchers have now developed such a device. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have achieved a long-sought milestone in photonics: creating tiny optical devices that are both highly sensitive and durable — two qualities that have long been considered fundamentally incompatible. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Researchers have invented a new type of tunable semiconductor laser that combines the best attributes of today’s most advanced laser products, demonstrating smooth, reliable, wide-range wavelength tuning in a simple, chip-sized design. Read on to learn more about it.
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Application Briefs: Imaging
For loading and unloading workpiece carriers containing wafers of different sizes in an automated process prior to PECVD coating, acp systems has developed a robotic solution aided by image processing for a leading manufacturer of space solar technology. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Materials
Researchers have developed an on-chip twisted moiré photonic crystal sensor that uses MEMS technology to control the gap and angle between the crystal layers in real time. The sensor can detect and collect detailed polarization and wavelength information simultaneously. Read on to learn more.
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Articles: Photonics/Optics
See the products of tomorrow, including a new tunable laser that uses a series of rings to smoothly emit many light wavelengths from a single chip; a smart capsule called PillTrek, which can measure pH, temperature, and a variety of different biomarkers; and more.
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Special Reports: Photonics/Optics
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Military & Maritime Unmanned/Autonomous Systems - August 2025
AI automates drone defense with high‐energy lasers…3D printing a game‐changer for ship and submarine part production…how TSN Ethernet will change the future of mil/aero...

Briefs: Lighting
With this groundbreaking discovery of time-dependent changes in networked nanodomains, developers are on the path to building adaptive networks for information storage and processing. Read on to learn more.
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Special Reports: Electronics & Computers
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Rugged/Hi‐Rel Electronics - June 2025
How advanced packaging is transforming mission‐critical electronics…a new era of high‐speed data transmission in defense…fully rugged PCs provide a decisive edge on the battlefield. Read about...

On-Demand Webinars: Sensors/Data Acquisition
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Advancements in silicon photonic and micro-optic technologies are driving the need to perform precision alignments down to sub-micrometer levels. As cutting-edge optical and...
INSIDER: Research Lab
What if ultrafast pulses of light could operate computers at speeds a million times faster than today's best processors? A team of scientists, including researchers from...
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Application Briefs: Lighting
Exploiting the “spatial” degree of freedom of light can mean many things. Read on to learn what they are and what the process can lead to.
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Articles: AR/AI
AI-driven computing is at a turning point. The old paradigm — squeezing ever-smaller transistors onto silicon chips — is becoming infeasible. Just increasing the chip size and with it the power consumption is unsustainable. The future lies in photonic processors that operate without electrical resistance, minimize heat dissipation, and deliver unmatched computational speed and efficiency. Read on to learn more.
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Products: Photonics/Optics
See the new products, including TRIOPTICS' ImageMaster® PRO AR Reflection waveguide testing solution; TOP-TICA’s Clock Laser System; Aerotech Inc.'s HexGen® HEX150-125HL Miniature Hexapod, a six degree-of-freedom precision positioning system; Teledyne e2v's Optimom™ 5D turnkey imaging module; Coherent Corp.'s set of pluggable optical transceivers optimized for use in data centers that incorporate optical circuit switches; and more.
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Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Machining metal has its challenges as many shops will attest, but machining glass is another matter – one that Dan Bukaty Jr., President of Precision Glass & Optics (PG&O) is well schooled in. Mr. Bukaty and his 35-person shop manufacture high-end precision glass optics for customers such as IMAX, Intuitive Surgical, Boeing and NASA, to name a few. Read on to learn about PG&O's use of a vision system.
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Metabolic imaging is a noninvasive method that enables clinicians and scientists to study living cells using laser light, which can help them assess disease progression and treatment responses. But light scatters when it shines into biological tissue, limiting how deeply it can penetrate and hampering the resolution of captured images. Now, MIT researchers have developed a new technique that more than doubles the usual depth limit of metabolic imaging. Read on to learn more.
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Briefs: Software
Artificial intelligence systems promise transformative advancements, yet their growth has been limited by energy inefficiencies and bottlenecks in data transfer. Researchers at Columbia Engineering have unveiled a groundbreaking solution: a 3D photonic-electronic platform that achieves unprecedented energy efficiency and bandwidth density, paving the way for next-generation AI hardware. Read on to learn more.
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