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UrduWOODS HOLE, Mass. — Egg cells start out as round blobs. After fertilization, they begin transforming into people, dogs, fish, or other animals by orienting head to tail, back to belly, and left to right. Exactly what sets these body…
Tag: OPTICS
Best of both worlds: A hybrid method for tracking laparoscopic ultrasound transducers
Combined hardware- and computer vision-based strategy will help improve laparoscopic ultrasound imaging
First images of muon beams
The quality of muon beams can now be assessed thanks to a new technique that has produced the first known images of these high-energy particles.
Dynamic 3D printing process features a light-driven twist
Light provides freedom to control each layer and improves precision and speed
New ink jet approach offers simple way to print microdisk lasers for biosensing
Advance could one day allow on-demand, on-site printing of biosensors
LED lighting development wins 2021 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (QEPrize)
Isamu Akasaki, Shuji Nakamura, Nick Holonyak Jr, M. George Craford and Russell Dupuis awarded the world’s most prestigious engineering accolade.
Air-guiding in solid-core optical waveguides: A solution for on-chip trace gas spectroscopy
Optical waveguides suspended in air are capable to beat free-space laser beams in light-analyte interaction even without complex dispersion engineering. This phenomenon has been predicted more than 20 years ago, yet never observed in experiment. In a new paper published…
Tracking cells with omnidirectional visible laser particles
Laser particles are micrometre and nanometre lasers in the form of particles dispersible in aqueous solution, which have attracted considerable interest in the life sciences as a promising new optical probe. Laser particles emit highly bright light with extremely narrow…
The benefits of reading outdoors
Contrast is a sensory property that makes stimuli stand out. Writers, designers, and musicians all use contrast to emphasize striking differences in text, visual displays and melodies. In vision, luminance contrast describes the difference in light intensity between a stimulus…
Remyelinating drug could improve vision in patients with multiple sclerosis
UC Riverside-led mouse study stresses MS treatment should be started early
EU project on development of high-performance photonic processors gets started
Consortium headed by physicist Wolfram Pernice from Münster University acquires funding of almost €6 million
Physicists have developed new material for water desalination
Titanium dioxide nanoparticles decorated by gold absorb about 96% of the solar spectrum and turn it into heat. The material can accelerate the evaporation in desalination plants up to 2.5 times and can track hazardous molecules and compounds. An international…
Photonics research makes smaller, more efficient VR, augmented reality tech possible
Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of Texas have developed and demonstrated a new approach for designing photonic devices. The advance allows them to control the direction and polarization of light from thin-film LEDs, paving the way…
Optimized LIBS technique improves analysis of nuclear reactor materials
Ultrafast laser provides better measurements of hydrogen isotopes
Research could dramatically lower cost of electron sources
Rice, Los Alamos make low-cost, scalable photocathodes from halide perovskites
Imaging zebrafish movements in 3D to better understand ALS disease
An interdisciplinary team of INRS used an innovative imaging technique for a better understanding of motor deficits in ALS
CCNY researchers demonstrate how to measure student attention during remote learning
The Covid-19 pandemic has made home offices, virtual meetings and remote learning the norm, and it is likely here to stay. But are people paying attention in online meetings? Are students paying attention in virtual classrooms? Researchers Jens Madsen and…
High-speed holographic fluorescence microscopy system with submicron resolution
The group has realized a scanless 3D imaging system and an algorithm for high-speed measurement
The DEEPER project: New photonic tools to reveal deep brain alterations causing diseases
Coordinated by IIT, the project involves 12 partners in 8 countries and it has been funded by the EU with about 5.7 million euros for the next 4 years
Efficient fluorescent materials and OLEDs for the NIR
The ability to manipulate near-infrared (NIR) radiation has the potential to enable a plethora of technologies not only for the biomedical sector (where the semitransparency of human tissue is a clear advantage) but also for security (e.g. biometrics) and ICT…
Healthy lifespan analysis using nematodes
New technology enables the search for genes and substances that could extend healthy lifespans
A vacuum-ultraviolet laser with submicrometer spot for spatially resolved photoemission spectroscopy
The rapid development of two-dimensional quantum materials, such as twisted bilayer graphene, monolayer copper superconductors, and quantum spin Hall materials, has demonstrated both important scientific implications and promising application potential. To characterize the electronic structure of these materials/devices, angle-resolved photoemission…
A metalens for virtual and augmented reality
Researchers develop a millimeter-size flat lens for VR and AR platforms
White turns into (extreme-)ultraviolet
Researchers from the Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy (MBI) have developed a new method to modify the spectral width of extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) light. By employing a novel phase-matching scheme in four-wave mixing, they could compress…
Advanced measurement technology for future semiconductor devices
Terahertz time domain spectroscopy for ultra-high frequency response of gallium oxide
Record-breaking laser link could help us test whether Einstein was right
Scientists from the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) and The University of Western Australia (UWA) have set a world record for the most stable transmission of a laser signal through the atmosphere. In a study published today in the journal…
Bringing atoms to a standstill: NIST miniaturizes laser cooling
It’s cool to be small. Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have miniaturized the optical components required to cool atoms down to a few thousandths of a degree above absolute zero, the first step in employing…
Nanodiamonds feel the heat
An international team of researchers created nanodiamond sensors that can act as both heat sources and thermometers, and is using them to measure the thermal conductivity inside living cells, which may lead to new diagnostics tools and cancer therapies
A highly sensitive technique for measuring the state of a cytoskeleton
A research group from Kumamoto University , Japan has developed a highly sensitive technique to quantitatively evaluate the extent of cytoskeleton bundling from microscopic images. Until now, analysis of cytoskeleton organization was generally made by manually checking microscopic images. The…
A scanning transmission X-ray microscope for analysis of chemical states of lithium
Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) are widely used for daily products in our life, such as hybrid cars, cell phone, etc. but their charge/discharge process is not fully understood yet. To understand the process, behaviors of lithium ion, distribution and chemical composition…
Columbia Engineers First to Observe Avalanches in Nanoparticles
Columbia Engineering researchers report the first nanomaterial that demonstrates “photon avalanching,” a process that is unrivaled in its combination of extreme nonlinear optical behavior and efficiency. The realization of photon avalanching in nanoparticle form opens up a host of sought-after applications, from real-time super-resolution optical microscopy, precise temperature and environmental sensing, and infrared light detection, to optical analog-to-digital conversion and quantum sensing.
High-sensitivity nanophotonic sensors with passive trapping of analyte molecules in hot-spots
Optical sensors can quantitatively analyze chemical and biological samples by measuring and processing the optical signals produced by the samples. Optical sensors based on infrared absorption spectroscopy can achieve high sensitivity and selectivity in real time, and therefore play a…
Studying chaos with one of the world’s fastest cameras
There are things in life that can be predicted reasonably well. The tides rise and fall. The moon waxes and wanes. A billiard ball bounces around a table according to orderly geometry. And then there are things that defy easy…
Columbia engineers first to observe avalanches in nanoparticles
Researchers develop the first nanomaterial that demonstrates “photon avalanching;” finding could lead to new applications in sensing, imaging, and light detection
Researchers at Brazil’s space institute discover why lightning branches and flickers
Analysis of the first super slow motion recordings of upward flashes suggests a possible explanation for the formation of luminous structures after electrical discharges split in the atmosphere.
Long-range energy transport in perovskite nanocrystal films
Producing clean energy and reducing the power consumption of illumination and personal devices are key challenges to reduce the impact of modern civilization on the environment. As a result, the surging demand for solar cells and light-emitting devices is driving…
Using light to revolutionize artificial intelligence
An international team of researchers just introduced a new photonic processor
High-flux table-top source for femtosecond hard X-ray pulses
Femtosecond hard X-ray pulses are an important tool for unraveling structure changes of condensed matter on atomic length and time scales. A novel laser-driven X-ray source provides femtosecond copper Kα pulses at a 1 kHz repetition rate with an unprecedented…
In sight: A paradigm shift in materials characterization
With industry partnership, Lehigh Univ. materials researchers developing novel instrumentation that could outperform synchrotron-based x-ray absorption spectrometry in giving scientists clearer view of elemental composition, chemical bonds at nanoscale
Scientists reach limit of multi-parameter quantum measurement with zero trade-off
Real-life applications like magnetometry or quantum gyroscope typically involve precise measurement on multiple parameters. How to achieve the ultimate precision limits simultaneously is a long sought-after grail in the field. It is widely believed that the ultimate precision limits for…
Convex to concave: More metasurface moiré results in wide-range lens
The odd, wavy pattern that results from viewing certain phone or computer screens through polarized glasses has led researchers to take a step toward thinner, lighter-weight lenses. Called moiré, the pattern is made by laying one material with opaque and…
Comb of a lifetime: a new method for fluorescence microscopy
Scientists develop a fluorescence “lifetime” microscopy technique that uses frequency combs and no mechanical parts to observe dynamic biological phenomena
Perfect transmission through barrier using sound
New study experimentally proved for the first time a century-old quantum theory that relativistic particles can pass through a barrier with 100% transmission
Experiment takes ‘snapshots’ of light, stops light, uses light to change properties of matter
PITTSBURGH–Light travels at a speed of about 300,000,000 meters per second as light particles, photons, or equivalently as electromagnetic field waves. Experiments led by Hrvoje Petek, an R.K. Mellon professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy examined ideas surrounding…
Bio-inspired endoscope provides 3D visible and near-infrared images simultaneously
New instrument could one day help surgeons more easily pinpoint cancerous tissue
UArizona researcher wins $1 million NSF C-Accel Grant
University of Arizona researcher Zheshen Zhang leads a team to create sensor systems for navigation, health care and communications — on Earth and beyond
Blood, light and COVID-19
Microvascular health as a key to improve patient care
Optoelectronic devices that emit warm and cool white light
The advantages of light-emitting diodes (LEDs), such as their tiny size, low cost and excellent power efficiency, mean they are found everywhere in modern life. A KAUST team has recently developed a way of producing a white-light LED that overcomes…
Lehigh University’s Dr. Nelson Tansu named IEEE Fellow
Engineering professor and researcher lauded for contributions to semiconductor photonics technologies
New phase for synthetic aperture microscopy
A phase microscopy method with unprecedented spatial resolution and speed, enough to observe subcellular dynamics and nanometric structures