Photonics & Imaging

Photonics/​Optics

Explore the latest technical briefs and product breakthroughs in photonics and optics. Resources include breakthroughs in lasers, laser systems, fiber optics, optical components, and photonics.

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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
An optoelectronic system provides information on the relative position and orientation of two structures that are required to be brought together slowly and gently in a prescribed alignment. In...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A method of designing a compact pushbroom imaging spectrometer includes explicit consideration and minimization of nonuniformity of spatial and spectral response. It appears that prior...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A high-power laser beam can be used to apply a torque to a sample of material that is electromagnetically and/or electrostatically levitated in a vacuum. The torque can be used to alter...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A method of tailoring the cores of optical fibers to obtain optical properties needed for specific photonic applications exploits the sol-gel process. The method is expected to open new...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Surfaces would be textured with dense arrays of pillars characterized by micron and submicron dimensions, according to a proposal, in order to impart desired optical properties to the...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Recent research has demonstrated the feasibility of an all-optical method of recording and readout of holograms in photorefractive crystals, with capabilities for both nonvolatile storage...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A proposed quantum-well infrared photodetector (QWIP) would exploit resonant-phonon-assisted transitions to reduce dark current significantly below that of a typical previously developed QWIP...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A photonic system has been devised for acquiring a radio-frequency (RF) signal from a remote receiving antenna via a long optical fiber. The system performs multiple functions,...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Cylindrical lenses can be used to increase the efficiency of coupling of light between (1) beams with circular or nearly circular cross sections propagating in single-mode optical...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A spectrometer has been developed for acquiring transient emission and absorption spectra in the wavelength range from 1.2 to 5.0 µm. It could be used to characterize flames, turbulence, and other transient...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
An improved photodiode-based complementary metal oxide/semiconductor (CMOS) active-pixel sensor (APS) incorporates features to (1) allow imaging with very high electronic shutter speeds,...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A fiber-optic illumination device that aids the inspection of window surfaces has been improved to make it suitable for automated detection of pits, scratches, and subsurface damage by...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Two improved schemes for the design and operation of photodiode-based CMOS (complementary metal oxide/ semiconductor) active-pixel sensors (APSs) afford zero image lag,...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Whispering-Gallery-Mode Microspheres as Light Modulators
Light modulators of a proposed type would exploit the propagation of lightin "whispering-gallery" electromagnetic modes in microspheres made of electro-optical materials. These modulators would offer advantages of ultrahigh modulation efficiency and increased bandwidth, relative to their...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Electrodeposition of Strong Glassy Metals
Thin-walled structures made of strong glassy nickel and glassy nickel-cobalt alloys, with tailorable low residual stresses, and with high resistance to permanent plastic deformation, can be formed by use of an electrodeposition process. This process was developed to enable the fabrication of lightweight,...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A technique of parallel-beam interferometry with spatially incoherent light has been proposed to solve two problems that arise in conjunction with using interferometry to measure the shape of...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A method of correcting for the distorting effects of the atmosphere upon a laser beam used in free-space optical communication has been proposed. The original version of the method...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Improved Optical Fallout Monitor
Modifications have been made to upgrade the system described in "Optoelectronic Particle-Fallout Sensor" (KSC-11687), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 19, No. 4 (April 1995), page 17a. A description of the unmodified version of the system is necessary to place a description of the modifications in context:
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
In a proposed method for rapidly detecting hydrazine in air at concentrations at or above 10 parts per billion by volume (ppbv), tunable diode lasers (TDLs) and photodetectors would be used...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A proposed electro-optical apparatus would shift the frequency of a laser beam by a controllable amount within the range of about ±10 GHz. It would be a wide-band alternative to an acousto-optical tunable...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Plasma spraying has been shown to be an effective means of depositing thin films of various oxides for use as wavelength-selective emitters for thermophotovoltaic devices (see Figure...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Maskless Gray-Scale X-Ray Lithography
In a proposed technique of maskless gray-scale x-ray lithography, a photoresist to be patterned would be exposed to a parallel beam of hard x-rays. As explained below, the photoresist would be translated across the beam at a varying rate to effect one-dimensional spatial variations in the radiation dose...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Nonsaturating Electronic Image Sensors
Focal-plane electronic image sensors that would not saturate when exposed to intense illumination have been proposed. These sensors could be used to acquire accurate, scientific-quality data on images (including spectral images), even when the images contain both very bright and very dark areas. The proposed...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A methodology for designing highly accurate readout circuits for infrared (IR) image detectors that have large pixel detector capacitances (of the order of tens of picofarads) and are...
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Briefs: Materials
Efforts are under way to develop a technique of noncontact acousto-ultrasonic testing in which (1) a pulsed laser beam excites ultrasonic waves in a plate specimen and (2) the ultrasonic...
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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Calcium bromide can be added to the sulfur filling in a sulfur lamp to increase the emission of red light for enhanced growth of plants. Red light is more efficacious for plant growth...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Irradiation by the beam from a CO2laser has been found to be an effective means of marking a black anodized aluminum surface. In general, this process works on any dark anodized surface....
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A proposed focal-plane array (FPA) of quantum-well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) would sense images in three different infrared wavelength bands simultaneously. These and other QWIP infrared...
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Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Update on Fuzzy-Logic-Enhanced Digital-PIV Software
Two reports present additional information on the subject matter of "Software for Processing Data in Particle-Image Velocimetry" (LEW-16857),NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 24, No. 1 (January 2000), page 26a. Like the cited prior article, both reports discuss the principles and the practical aspects of...

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