Photonics & Imaging

Technology Leaders: Aerospace

Micro-Cameras Bring New Video Applications into Focus

Powerful, tiny cameras provide unique streaming-video solutions for NASA robots and defense applications.

Briefs: Imaging

Researchers Acquire 3D Images with LED Room Lighting and a Smartphone

Researchers are tapping into dynamically controlled LEDs to create a simple illumination system for 3D imaging.

Products: Semiconductors & ICs

New Products: March 2021 Photonics & Imaging Technology

Near-eye displays, optical inspection systems, UV glass, and more.

Application Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Hyperspectral Cameras and Data Quality

Any hyperspectral system needs to maintain a stable and accurate radiometric and spectral calibration.

Application Briefs: RF & Microwave Electronics

Add LiDAR to ADAS for Pedestrian Safety

While ADAS has improved freeway and high-speed driving, the basic need for collision mitigation with pedestrians and bicyclists has mostly remained unaddressed.

Briefs: Imaging

INRS Researchers Design the World’s Fastest UV Camera

Imagine being able to snap a picture of extremely fast events on the order of a picosecond.

Application Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition

The Sensing Systems That Make ADAS Work

See what kinds of sensors are supporting self-driving vehicles.

Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control

Keeping Drones Flying When a Motor Fails

Onboard cameras can be used to keep damaged quadcopters in the air and flying stably, even without GPS.

5 Ws: Test & Measurement

5 Ws of the Smartphone Camera COVID-19 Test

With a smartphone camera, a new diagnostic test provides a positive or negative COVID-19 result in 15 to 30 minutes.

Products: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Product of the Month: March 2021 Tech Briefs

By design, new 3D scanners are motionless during inspection.

Products: Software

New on the Market: March 2021

Vision software, thermal sensors, ceramic pastes, and more.

Facility Focus: Test & Measurement

Facility Focus: NASA Langley Research Center

See how NASA Langley tests a variety of advanced aircraft concepts. including ways to make flying both cleaner and quieter.

Briefs: Imaging

Semiconductor Detector Identifies Radioactive Isotopes with High Resolution

The device has applications in medical diagnostics and homeland security.

Articles: Photonics/Optics

Photonics West 2021 Preview

The virtual event offers a mix of live plenary talks, on-demand technical presentations and discussions, online networking and special events.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

High-Brightness Source of Coherent Light Spanning From the UV to THz

A novel technique for a high-brightness coherent and few-cycle duration source spans seven optical octaves.

Articles: Photonics/Optics

Cost-Effective Day & Night Marking Using Lasers

The marking provides easy-to-see legends on plastic buttons under widely varying illumination conditions.

Articles: Photonics/Optics

Creating High-Precision Glass for NIR Lasers

See what kinds of applications require high-precision laser glass with demanding dimensional tolerances and high-power laser coatings.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Optimal Information About the Invisible

Researcher are finding ways to estimate a target location when light gets deflected by a disordered structure.

Briefs: Nanotechnology

3D-Printed Smart Gel Changes Shape When Exposed to Light

The invention can become color-changing “artificial muscle.”

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Laser Printing Technology for Waterproof E-Textiles

The next generation of waterproof smart fabrics can be laser-printed and made in minutes.

Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Perseverance on Mars: The Journey Begins

Perseverance is the first leg of a round trip to Mars.

INSIDER: Materials

High-Speed Infrared Reveals Safer Hypergolic Propellant

When SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule splashed down off the Florida coast in August following its first crewed mission, the two astronauts inside could not exit the capsule...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

New Fiber Optic Temperature Sensing Approach Could Keep Fusion Power Plants Running

The pursuit of fusion as a safe, carbon-free, always-on energy source has intensified in recent years, with a number of organizations pursuing aggressive...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

New Products: March 2021 Photonics & Imaging Insider

IR and UV Optics

Edmund Optics (EO) (Barrington, NJ) has released Zinc Selenide (ZnSe) Wedged Windows, which are ideal for infrared (IR) applications, and TECHSPEC® Calcium...

INSIDER: Imaging

SoloHI Imager Captures Rare Shot of Venus, Earth, Mars, and Uranus

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) and NASA’s Solar Orbiter Heliospheric Imager (SoloHI) recently recorded an image showing three of the four inner rocky planets. The...

Blog: Test & Measurement

Answering Your Questions: Laser Radar...Or a CMM with a Laser Scanner?

Should you replace your big coordinate measurement machine with laser radar? Or should you just add a laser scanner with a CMM? A reader asks our expert.

INSIDER: Electronics & Computers

This LED Can Be Integrated Directly Into Computer Chips

Light-emitting diodes — LEDs — are important in many more applications than just illumination. These light sources are useful in microelectronics too. Smartphones, for example,...