Photonics/​Optics

Sustainable Computing for AI Processing

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.

Ultra-Broadband Photonic Chip Boosts Optical Signals

Researchers have developed a photonic chip-based traveling wave parametric amplifier that achieves ultra-broadband signal amplification in an unprecedentedly compact form. Read on to learn more about it.

Revolutionizing Dynamic Facial Projection Mapping: A Leap Forward in Augmented Reality

Augmented reality has become a hot topic in the entertainment, fashion, and makeup industries. Though a few different technologies exist in these fields, dynamic facial projection mapping is among the most sophisticated and visually stunning ones. Read on to learn more about it.

New Study Showcases 3D Photonics with Record Performance for AI

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.

Noninvasive Imaging Method Can Penetrate Deeper Into Living Tissue

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.

Vision System Assures Glass Act at California Shop

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.

Twisted Light in Optical Fibers May Lead to Substantial Capacity Enhancements

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.

A Compact, Mid-Infrared Pulse Generator

Physicists in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have created a compact laser that emits extremely bright, short pulses of light in a useful but...

Knowing the Right Trigger Strategy Ensures Capture of High-Speed Application With Precision

In the field of technical imaging, the term “trigger” is often used synonymously with the term frame-synchronization (or f-sync) signal. In the...

Tying Overlapping Laser Beams into Stable 'Optical Knots'

A beam of light doesn’t sound like a material that can create a knot. Until now.

A New Model that Addresses the ‘Outfielder Problem’

The work addresses the outfielder problem, which refers to the baseball player who stands in the outfield to catch the ball after it is hit. It is a classic challenge in physics and the neuroscience of movement, used to explore how humans and animals predict movements in a dynamic environment and how automated systems can be designed to mimic them.

An Innovative Sensing Platform for Ultrahigh Sensitivity in Conventional Sensors

New research unlocks the power of exceptional points (EPs) for advanced optical sensing. In a study published in Science Advances , a team showed that these unique EPs — specific conditions in systems where extraordinary optical phenomena can occur — can be deployed on conventional sensors to achieve a striking sensitivity to environmental perturbations. Read on to learn more.

Single-Shot Polarization Imaging System Provides Complete Picture

Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have developed a compact, single-shot polarization imaging system that can provide a complete picture of polarization. Read on to learn more about it.

Products of Tomorrow

See the products of tomorrow, including paper-thin optical lenses simple enough to mass produce like microchips; a compact cooling technology that can pump away heat continuously using layers of flexing thin films; and a multilayered chip design that doesn’t require any silicon wafer substrates and works at temperatures low enough to preserve the underlying layer’s circuitry.

New on the Market

See what's new on the market, including electronic control products from NORD DRIVESYSTEMS; the new F-141 photonics alignment system from PI; InnoPhase IoT's expansion of its Talaria platform; Aerotech, Inc.'s HexGen® HEX150-125HL Miniature Hexapod; and more.

Quantum Sensing to Engineer Photonic Sensors

A Bristol-led team of physicists has found a way to operate mass manufacturable photonic sensors at the quantum limit. This breakthrough paves the way for practical applications such as monitoring greenhouse gases and cancer detection. Read on to learn more.

Visible-Light Lasers That Fit on a Fingertip

Researchers have created visible lasers of very pure colors from near-ultraviolet to near-infrared that fit on a fingertip. The colors of the lasers can be precisely tuned and extremely fast — up to 267 petahertz per second, which is critical for applications such as quantum optics. Read on to learn more.

Levitating Objects with Light

Researchers have designed a way to levitate and propel objects using only light by creating specific nanoscale patterning on the objects' surfaces. The work could be a step toward developing a spacecraft that could reach the nearest planet outside of our solar system in 20 years, powered and accelerated only by light. Read on to learn more.

Say Goodbye to the Dots and Dashes to Enhance Optical Storage Media

Purdue researchers have created technology aimed at replacing Morse code with colored “digital characters” to modernize optical storage. They are confident the advancement will help with the explosion of remote data storage during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Read on to learn more.

New AR Glasses Use AI-Enhanced Holographic Imaging

Researchers in the emerging field of spatial computing have developed a prototype augmented reality headset that uses holographic imaging to overlay full-color, 3D moving images on the lenses of what would appear to be an ordinary pair of glasses. Read on to learn more about it.

3 Robotic Technologies Looking to Change Life on Earth and the Moon

Watch this video to learn more about three new robotic technologies: A soft robot developed at NC State University; a pair of wearable robotic limbs developed by MIT engineers; and a camera inspired by the human eye developed at the University of Maryland.

7 Finalists for SPIE Startup Challenge at Photonics West 2025

Seven early-stage startup companies have been selected to compete for a top prize of $10,000 at the 15th annual SPIE Startup Challenge at Photonics West Tuesday, January 28.

New Product Launches and Technologies to See at Photonics West 2025

The SPIE Photonics West 2025 technical conference and exhibition returns to San Francisco's Moscone Center, January 25 to 30, providing attendees the opportunity to learn...

A More Responsive Infrared Photodiode

Researchers have developed a new type of infrared photodiode that is 35 percent more responsive at 1.55 µm, the key wavelength for telecommunications, compared to other germanium-based components.

Smallest Walking Robot Makes Microscale Measurements

Cornell researchers in physics and engineering have created the smallest walking robot yet. Its mission: to be tiny enough to interact with waves of visible light and still move...