Photonics & Imaging

2025 Holiday Gift Guide for Engineers: Tech, Tools, and Gadgets

We here at Tech Briefs want to remedy that toxic part of the holidays. So, we put together a list of terrific gift ideas for anyone — but especially the engineer — in your life.

Manufacturing the World's Tiniest Light-Emitting Diodes

Miniaturization ranks as the driving force behind the semiconductor industry. The tremendous gains in computer performance since the 1950s are largely due to the fact that ever smaller...

Products of Tomorrow

See the products of tomorrow, including a drone with flapping wings that can locate and hover around a moving light like a moth to a flame; a new multi-layered metalens design that could revolutionize portable optics in devices like phones, drones, and satellites; and more.

The U.K.’s First Long-Distance, Quantum-Secured Video Call and More

Researchers have successfully demonstrated the U.K.’s first long-distance ultra-secure transfer of data over a quantum communications network, including the U.K.’s first long-distance quantum-secured video call. Read on to learn more.

3D LiDAR for Improved Rover Traversal and Imagery

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has developed a Space Qualified Rover LiDAR (SQRLi) system that will improve rover sensing capabilities in a small, lightweight package. The new SQRLi package is developed to survive the hazardous space environment and provide valuable image data during planetary and lunar rover exploration. Read on to learn more about it.

Entangled-Photon Pairs Secure Optical Communications

NASA's Glenn Research Center has developed a method of using entangled-photon pairs to produce highly secure mobile communications that require mere milliwatts of power. Read on to learn more.

Color Filtering Software Enhances Material Strain Analysis

Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed a technology that can isolate a single direction of tensile strain in biaxially woven material. This is accomplished using traditional digital image correlation (DIC) techniques in combination with custom red-green-blue (RGB) color filtering software. Read on to learn more.

How Metasurfaces Can Act as Quantum Upgrades

Optics researchers in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences created specially designed metasurfaces — flat devices etched with nanoscale light-manipulating patterns — to act as ultra-thin upgrades for quantum-optical chips and setups. Read on to learn more.

Robotic Skin Allows Tiny Robots to Navigate Complex, Fragile Environments

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a soft robotic skin that enables vine robots that are just a few millimeters wide to navigate convoluted paths and fragile environments. Read on to learn more.

How Much Do You Know About Space Optical Communications?

How much do you know about optical and laser communications in space? Test your knowledge with this quiz.

Ultra-Lightweight, Multispectral, High-Resolution Imaging for Orbital Intelligence and Civilian Missions

The launch of Elbit Systems' JUPITER space camera marks an important advancement in spaceborne imaging technology.

Researchers Discover Breakthrough Materials to Enhance Light-Based Computers

Researchers have been developing computers that deploy light, or photons, rather than electricity to power storage and calculations. These light-based computers...

NASA Mission to Test Organic Electro-Optic Materials in Space

NLM Photonics has confirmed that its patented silicon organic hybrid (SOH) photonic chips, featuring Selerion-HTX™ and JRD1, have successfully arrived at the International...

An AI-Powered Wearable Device to Expedite Wound Healing

A wearable device, a-Heal, designed at the University of California, Santa Cruz, aims to expedite the entire healing process. It uses a tiny camera and AI to detect the stage of healing and deliver treatment in the form of medication or an electric field.

Robotic Skin Allows Tiny Robots to Navigate Complex, Fragile Environments

Researchers have developed a soft robotic skin that enables vine robots a few millimeters wide to navigate convoluted paths and fragile environments. To accomplish...

Powerful and Precise Multi-color Lasers Now Fit on a Single Chip

A few years ago, researchers in Michal Lipson’s Columbia Engineering lab noticed something remarkable. They were working on a project to design high-power chips that could...

Product of the Month

See the product of the month: Optical Gaging Products' addition to their SmartScope® 3D Multisensor Metrology systems: SmartScope M130.

New on the Market

See what's new on the market, including Boker’s stamped metal components custom manufactured to fit into developed mold designs; the CRH03 tactical-grade gyroscope from Silicon Sensing Systems; Keysight Technologies' enhanced physical layer compliance test solution for high-definition multimedia interface; and more.

A High-Performance Mid-Infrared Imaging System Without Lenses

Researchers have used the centuries-old idea of pinhole imaging to create a high-performance mid-infrared imaging system without lenses. The new camera can capture extremely clear pictures over a large range of distances and in low light, making it useful for situations that are challenging for traditional cameras.

Products of Tomorrow

See the products of tomorrow, including a new type of 3D-printed titanium that’s about a third cheaper than commonly used titanium alloys; specially designed metasurfaces — flat devices etched with nanoscale light-manipulating patterns — to act as ultra-thin upgrades for quantum-optical chips and setups; and a handheld slide staining system designed to support medical, research, or environmental monitoring.

New on the Market

See what's new on the market, including the eddyNCDT 3005 from Micro-Epsilon; Instron's new iteration of its Bluehill® Central software platform; Novotechnik U.S.'s TE1 Series of absolute linear position sensors; Specialised Imaging's new high-intensity short duration flash designed to freeze motion in aeroballistic applications; and more.

Fiber Optic Sensing Technologies

Known as FOSS (for fiber optic sensing system), NASA’s technology portfolio combines advanced sensors and innovative algorithms into a robust package that accurately and cost-effectively monitors a host of critical parameters in real time. Read on to learn more.

Novel Flexible Terahertz Camera Can Inspect Objects with Diverse Shapes

A team of researchers from Tokyo Tech, led by Associate Professor Yukio Kawano, has designed a flexible and free-standing THz sensor array that can be used to image blind ends of irregularly shaped objects. Read on to learn more about it.