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

INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Method Detects Defects in 2D Materials for Future Electronics and Sensors

To further shrink electronic devices and to lower energy consumption, the semiconductor industry is interested in using 2D materials, but manufacturers need a quick...

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Intelligent Microrobots

Such machines, only a few tens of micrometers across, could be used in the human body to perform small operations.

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Welding Ceramics with Lasers

This technology could be used to create smartphones that don't scratch or shatter, metal-free pacemakers, and electronics for space and other harsh environments.

Briefs: Communications

Atoms Can Receive Common Communications Signals

This atom-based receiver has the potential to be smaller and work better in noisy environments than conventional radio receivers.

Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Underwater Telecom Cables Used as Seismic Network

Fiber-optic cables could help scientists study offshore earthquakes and the geologic structures hidden deep beneath the ocean surface.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Long-Distance LADAR System and Method

The system provides three-dimensional imagery of potential threats at closer ranges.

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Multimaterial Fiber “Ink” for 3D-Printed Devices

Filaments with embedded circuitry can be used to print complex shapes for biomedical and robotic devices.

Briefs: Imaging

3D Printing of Plastics with Electrical Circuits

This innovation could lead to better drones, satellites, and biomedical devices.

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Polymer Coating Cools Down Buildings

This coating acts as a spontaneous air cooler and can be fabricated, dyed, and applied like paint.

Facility Focus: Test & Measurement

Facility Focus: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Explore Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA's first space flight complex.

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Low-Energy Device Rapidly Reroutes Light in Computer Chips

The switch is a major new step toward building a computer that uses light instead of electricity to process information.

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

3D Printing Technique Produces “Living” 4D Materials

3D/4D printing is merged with a chemical process to produce “living” resin, which has potential for recycling and biomedicine.

INSIDER Product: Photonics/Optics

SWIR Camera Princeton Infrared Technologies, Inc. (PIRT) (Monmouth Junction, NJ) will be introducing its new compact MVCam series shortwave-infrared (SWIR) and visible camera that supports the highest commercially available frame...

INSIDER: Imaging

Simulated Image Demonstrates Power of Nasa's Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope

Imagine a fleet of 100 Hubble Space Telescopes, deployed in a strategic space-invader-shaped array a million miles from Earth, scanning the universe at warp...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

Tests Measure Solar Panel Performance Beyond Established Standards

Photovoltaics used in solar panels are sensitive to environmental factors and often suffer degradation over time. International Electrotechnical Commission standards for...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

Laser Pulse Creates Frequency Doubling in Amorphous Dielectric Material

Researchers have demonstrated a new all-optical technique for creating robust second-order nonlinear effects in materials that don’t normally support them. Using a...

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Embedded Gas and Temperature Sensors for Extreme Environments

Innovative process control systems for improved efficiency and lower emissions in current and future fossil-fuel-based power systems and related applications require durable, embedded sensor technology that can operate at higher temperatures and in harsh conditions.