Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Etching Mirror Facets on SOI Optical Waveguides
A process that would include a combination of dry and wet chemical etching has been proposed for making facets for low-loss mirrors on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) optical waveguides....
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Two-Fiber-Optic Method of Laser Doppler Velocimetry
The figure depicts the basic optical layouts for (1) conventional laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) and (2) a newer method of LDV based partly on the use of two optical fibers. Whereas...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Stabilization and Registration of Sequential Video Images
A computational process converts a sequence of digitized video images of the same scene into stabilized, coregistered images of an area of interest within the scene. The process corrects for motion of the area of interest or of the camera (as manifested by rotation, translation, and/or...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Arrays of QWIPs With Spatial Separation of Multiple Colors
Focal-plane arrays of quantum-well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) featuring adjacent pixels sensitive to different colors have been proposed. An array of this type would make it...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Making Three-Dimensional Holograms Visible From All Sides
A technique for projecting holographic images to make both still and moving three-dimensional displays is undergoing development. Unlike older techniques based on stereoscopy to give...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Adaptive Multiplexing for Free-Space Optical Communication
"Laser-based adaptive wavelength division multiplexing and code division multiplexing" (LAWDM-CDM) is the name of a method that has been proposed to increase security,...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Magnetically Suspended Optical Chopper Wheel
A magnetically suspended, motor-driven light-chopping wheel has been developed as an alternative to a traditional light-chopping wheel suspended on ball bearings. This chopper (see figure) is...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Fiber-Optic Rotary Joint for Passing High-Definition Video
A video camera has been integrated with a tracking pedestal (see figure) for tracking of aircraft and spacecraft. The camera is of a high-definition (1,280 × 720 pixels),...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Mesoscopic Steerable Mirror
A proposed lightweight, micromachined, multiaxis-steerable mirror would have mesoscopic dimensions. Its steering function would involve mesoscopic positional excursions of its support points and would be...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Testing Grazing-Incidence Mirrors at Nearly Normal Incidence
An optical system that utilizes visible light at nearly perpendicular incidence has been invented for use in testing the surface figures of nominally axisymmetric (paraboloidal,...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Making Digital Composite Images for Technical Illustration
A method of generating three-dimensional composite digital images can serve multiple purposes in technical illustration. The method was devised to accelerate and facilitate the design of new electric lights and receptacles for large buildings, and can just as well be applied to the...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Phase-Retrieval Camera for Optical Testing
A portable instrument denoted a phase-retrieval camera (PRC) is designed to enable the testing of large, lightweight optics in the presence of vibrations and atmospheric turbulence. The development...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Liquid-Crystal Phase-Shifting Shearing Interferometer
The liquid-crystal phase-shifting shearing interferometer is a common-path interferometer based partly on a lateral-shear-plate interferometer. It bears a partial similarity to the...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Fiber-Optic Phase-Locked Loop Sensitive to Local Strain Only
The figure schematically depicts an apparatus for measuring strain at only one designated location on a structure. The apparatus is a fiber-optic phase-locked loop, wherein strain...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Light Recycling and Color Scrolling for Brighter Displays
The efficiencies and thus the brightnesses of flat-panel projectors based on liquid-crystal devices (LCDs) and digital mirror devices (DMDs) would be increased by the combination of...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Multi-Screen-Image- and Catalog-Viewing Program
A computer program enables the single- or multi-screen display of multispectral, multiresolution images — especially astronomical ones — stored as sets of data that range upward in size from hundreds of gigabytes. In cases of multi-screen displays, the software synchronizes the screens so that...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Software Automates Processing of SAR Image Data
The Automated SAR Image Processor (ASIP) computer program increases the efficiency of production of scientifically useful imagery from raw synthetic-aperture-radar (SAR) image data. In the absence of ASIP, the processing of SAR data is a labor-intensive task, often involving supporting personnel,...
Briefs: Motion Control
Compact, Stiff, Lightweight, Quick-Release Clamp
The term "COSMOWRAP" denotes a compact, stiff, remotely actuatable, lightweight, quick-release clamp that could be substituted for the larger, heavier, and more-difficult-to-use toggle-action...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Crystalline Organic Films for Optical Applications
Cells that contain thin, single-crystal films of photoresponsive organic materials [e.g., meta-nitroaniline (m-NA)] have been invented for use as nonlinear optics and especially as...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Optoelectronic Oscillator With Low Acceleration Sensitivity
An optoelectronic oscillator with a nominal operating frequency of 11.763 GHz has been designed and constructed to demonstrate a technique for reducing the sensitivity of the...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Apparatus Measures X-Ray Diffraction and Fluorescence
The figure depicts an apparatus for measuring x-ray diffraction (XRD) and/or x-ray fluorescence (XRF) in a specimen of material. The specimen could be, for example, a standard XRD powder...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Fluorescent Dyes for Two-Photon Microscopy
A proposed program of research would be oriented toward the development of fluorescent dyes for use in two-photon microscopy. Two-photon microscopy and its predecessor, one-photon microscopy, are...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Critical Composition Buffering for Growing InxGa1-xAs on InP
A method of growing lattice-mismatched InxGa1-xAs epitaxial layers on InP substrates using intermediate buffer layers of...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Portable Airborne Multispectral-Imaging System
A portable instrumentation system that includes an airborne and a ground-based subsystem acquires multispectral image data over swaths of terrain ranging in width from about 1/2 to 1 km. The...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Lossless Image-Compression Algorithm Implemented in an FPGA
A lossless image-compression algorithm that can be executed entirely in electronic hardware has been developed. This algorithm yields about 15 percent more compression than does the...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Hardware and Software for Air-to-Air Schlieren Imaging
Software and electronic hardware are being developed to provide cockpit guidance and camera control for an air-to-air schlieren photography system that is to be used to take...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Hand-Held Optoelectronic Particulate Monitors
Optoelectronic instruments are being developed for use in measuring the concentrations and sizes of microscopic particles suspended in air. The instruments could be used, for example, to detect smoke, explosive dust in grain elevators, or toxic dusts in industrial buildings. Like some older,...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
High-Performance Processor of Hyperspectral Images
The Remote Sensing Hyperspectral Engine (RSHE) is a special-purpose, portable computer that performs high-performance processing of hyperspectral image data collected by a remote-sensing optoelectronic apparatus. Typically, the remote-sensing apparatus is airborne or spaceborne, the images are...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Lateral-Current-Collection HgCdTe Infrared Detectors
Arrays of HgCdTe infrared photodetectors have been developed to satisfy stringent performance requirements for use in NASA’s Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer. The design of these...
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