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.

Stories

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Breathable Electronics for Wearable Technologies

The material was designed specifically for biomedical or wearable technologies, since sweat and volatile organic compounds evaporate away from the skin.

Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control

Nanomaterial Gives Robots Chameleon Skin

Features include unusual color changes and high touch sensitivity.

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

Configurable Circuit Technology Poised to Expand Silicon Photonic Applications

Researchers have developed a new way to build power efficient and programmable integrated switching units on a silicon photonics chip. The new technology is...

Briefs: Test & Measurement

Tracking Lab-Grown Tissue with Light

A new proof-of-concept photonic pH sensor could advance studies of tissue regeneration.

Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Enhanced Fabrication Improves Temperature Sensing in Cryogenic Humid Environments

This technology is useful for energy, industrial, and aerospace applications.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Ultrafast Camera Captures Transparent Objects and Phenomena

The camera can take up to 1 trillion pictures per second of transparent objects, shockwaves, and other phenomena.

Briefs: Imaging

Ultrathin, Fully Packaged, High-Resolution Camera

Biologically inspired ultrathin arrayed camera captures super-resolution images.

Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Pseudo-Random Coding Technique for 3D Imaging

This technique offers enhanced resolution and improved system reliability for mapping and obstacle recognition and navigation for vehicles.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Method Verifies that Quantum Chips are Computing Correctly

The method determines whether circuits are accurately executing complex operations that classical computers can’t tackle.

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Graphene Smart Textiles for Heat-Adaptive Clothing

Smart adaptive clothing can lower the body temperature of the wearer in hot climates.

Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Neural Hardware for Image Recognition in Nanoseconds

An ultrafast image sensor with a built-in neural network can be trained to recognize certain objects.

Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Wearable Strain Sensor Using Light Transmittance

This technology shows potential for the detection of subtle human motions and the real-time monitoring of body postures for healthcare applications.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Laser Treatment Turns Metal Surfaces into Bacteria Killers

The technique could easily be translated into existing medical device manufacturing processes for use in orthopedic implants.

Briefs: Imaging

Light-Emitting Nanoparticles for Imaging Living Cells

Tiny, metal-rich particles can be excited with a low-power laser for deep-tissue imaging.

INSIDER: Test & Measurement

Comb on a Chip Could Revolutionize Clocks, Telescopes, Telecommunications

Just as a meter stick with hundreds of tick marks can be used to measure distances with great precision, a device known as a laser frequency comb, with its hundreds...

INSIDER Product: Imaging

New Products

Ultraviolet-Enhanced Circular Photodetector Opto Diode Corporation (Camarillo, CA) has introduced the UVG5S, an ultraviolet-enhanced photodiode with a 5 mm² circular active area. The new device is suitable for detection between...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

Using Sunlight to Save Satellites from Becoming ‘Space Junk’

Carolin Frueh is among only a handful of researchers who have persisted in using a complex technique that can diagnose a problem from thousands of miles away based on how a...

INSIDER: Imaging

Transparent Graphene Electrodes Might Lead to New Generation of Solar Cells

A new way of making large sheets of high-quality, atomically thin graphene could lead to ultra-lightweight, flexible solar cells, and to new classes of...

Blog: Test & Measurement

Answering Your Questions: Will the 2020 Mars Rover Have Back-Up Features?

A reader asks our NASA expert: "What kind of redundancy is built into the Mars 2020 rover?"

Special Reports: Robotics, Automation & Control

Exploring Mars - July 2020

As NASA prepares this week to launch its latest robotic rover to the Red Planet, we are excited to present this commemorative publication chronicling – through historic images and video – six decades of Mars...

Briefs: Test & Measurement

Soft Prosthetic Hand Feels Surroundings via Stretchable Optical Waveguides

Sensors in the hand can actually detect forces being transmitted through the thickness of the robot.

Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs

Quantum Computing at Room Temperature

Quantum computer circuits that will no longer need extremely cold temperatures to function could become a reality.

Briefs: Lighting

A Combined Optical Transmitter and Receiver

Researchers at Linköping University, together with colleagues in China, have developed a tiny unit that is both an optical transmitter and a receiver.

Application Briefs: Lighting

Beyond LPW: Debunking the Myth that More is Better

There’s been a race to the top among industrial LED lighting manufacturers as they scramble to squeeze the maximum possible lumens per watt (LPW) out of their products.