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

Technology Leaders: Photonics/Optics

High Quality Optical Surfaces

Make sure the polished optic meets the requirement of a particular application.

Application Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Extended Dynamic Range Camera Imaging

New surveillance sensors are able to perform better than ever under unpredictable and dynamic lighting conditions.

Briefs: Imaging

Low-Cost Imaging System Poised to Provide Automatic Mosquito Tracking

A new low-cost imaging system could make it easier to track mosquito species that carry disease, enabling a more timely and targeted response.

Briefs: Imaging

New High-Speed Microscope Can Capture Brain Neuroactivity

A research team has built a super-high-speed microscope.

Special Reports: Photonics/Optics

Advances in Optics - June 2020

From Automotive LiDAR to Cubesats & space communications to smart cameras for robots, optics technology is enabling exciting new applications across a range of industries. Read all about it in this Special...

5 Ws: Materials

5 Ws of Bacteria-Killing Metal Surfaces

Bacterial pathogens can live on surfaces for days. What if frequently touched surfaces, such as doorknobs, could instantly kill them off?

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Carbon Nanostructure is Stronger Than Diamonds

A novel plate-cell architecture reaches the theoretical limit of performance.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Optically Reconfigurable Charge-Transfer Liquid Crystals

These re-writeable materials have applications in data storage and encryption, energy transducers, and optical display technologies.

Articles: Test & Measurement

Mars 2020 – Looking for Life

Tech Briefs spoke with NASA’s Ken Williford, Mars 2020 Deputy Project Scientist, to learn more about the science capabilities of Perseverance.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Improving Data Speeds with Laser-Activated Magnets

Mini-magnets could enable cloud computing systems to process data up to 100 times faster than current technologies.

Briefs: Test & Measurement

Device Modulates Light and Amplifies Tiny Signals

This system can amplify a faint signal from a neighboring system even when that signal’s amplitude is as small as ten trillionths of a meter.

Briefs: Aerospace

Process for Producing High-Quality, Lightweight Mirrors

The process provides a cost-effective solution for applications in space-based imaging systems, military reconnaissance, and satellite and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Application Briefs: Communications

Seeables and Hearables for Fitness Feedback

Learn abut Bosch Sensortec's “Light Drive” system.

Briefs: Materials

Soft Hardware for More Flexible Robots

Combined muscles and sensors made from soft materials allow for adaptable robots.

Briefs: Aerospace

Navigation Measurement Software

This program provides a relative navigation capability for spacecraft, remotely operated terrestrial vehicles, and machine vision.

News: Photonics/Optics

Optical Imaging Technology for Treating Tumors

A new tool for medical professionals may help shed light on tumors.

Blog: Imaging

As Fewer Planes Take Off, NASA's Pandora Sensors Measure Airport Air Quality

An empty airport tells you more than you might think.

INSIDER: Materials

Layered Solar Cell Technology Boosts Efficiency and Affordability

The future’s getting brighter for solar power. Researchers from CU Boulder have created a low-cost solar cell with one of the highest power-conversion efficiencies to date...

INSIDER: Software

Inverse Design Software Automates Design Process for Optical, Nanophotonic Structures

Stanford University researchers created an inverse design codebase called SPINS that can help researchers explore different design methodologies to find...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

Upconverting Nanolasers from Subwavelength Plasmons

A research team has used the Molecular Foundry, a Department of Energy Office of Science user facility, to create miniature lasers. These lasers are stable and work continuously. What...

INSIDER Product: Sensors/Data Acquisition

New Products

Low-Power Sealed Laser Luxinar (Kingston Upon Hull, UK) has introduced the SR 08s for marking, scribing and kiss cutting applications requiring average rather than peak power. The new low-power sealed CO2 laser source targets...

Application Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Properly Designing and Specifying Aspheric Lenses

Aspheric lenses greatly improve the performance and efficiency of a wide range of optical applications.

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

New Graphene-Based Metasurface Capable of Independent Amplitude and Phase Control of Light

Researchers described a new strategy of designing metamolecules.

Articles: Photonics/Optics

3D Imaging the Biolocomotion of Fruit Flies

The last thing you probably do when a fly buzzes toward you is marvel at its graceful wing and body kinematics. But that’s exactly what researchers at Cornell University’s Itai Cohen Group do...