Optics & Photonics News

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Optical Microcavity Resonance Technique for Detecting Unlabelled Target Molecules

Even very small numbers of deadly infectious agents or allergenic pollen molecules can cause big problems for humans. But detecting such trace amounts is difficult to do fast enough to do any good. Current techniques -- for example, air sampling on filters or slides until enough molecules for a detectible signal or preparing specially tagged molecules for lab experiments -- are more suitable for general research than alerting people to an imminent threat.

20 Oct 2008

BAE Systems Awarded Contract from U.S. Army for Thermal Weapon Sights

The U.S. Army has awarded BAE Systems orders worth $66 million for continued production of thermal weapon sights. Used on rifles, machine guns, and mounted weapon systems, the sights provide around-the-clock surveillance and target acquisition capabilities, increasing situational awareness, lethality, and survivability for men and women in combat.

20 Oct 2008

Fieldsmart Fiber Main Frame and Cabinets to be used in 3-year FTTH Project

Marquette Adams Telephone Cooperative and Kratz Communications have selected Clearfield, Inc. for a three-year fiber to the home (FTTH) deployment to approximately 4,000 subscribers in central Wisconsin.

20 Oct 2008

World's Thinnest Flexible Display Takes Scrolling to a Whole New Level

Imagine a miniature television or computer screen that scrolls out of a pen-sized carrying case. Flexible displays like this are almost on the edge of commercial reality, but several challenges still must be overcome in making high-performance thin films that bend but don't break.

20 Oct 2008

Tabletop Microscope Recognized as Top 100 Most Significant Technological Advances for 2008

R+D Magazine has recognized a tabletop microscope developed by a team of Colorado State University and Berkeley researchers at the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Science and Technology as one of the Top 100 most significant technological advances for 2008.

20 Oct 2008

Safety and Effectiveness of Laser Therapies for Removal of Unwanted Hair

Laser therapies commonly used for removal of unwanted hair appear to be safer and remove leg hair more effectively when used separately than when used as a combination treatment, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

20 Oct 2008

Sun-Damaged Skin Responding Well to Laser Treatment

Researchers at the University of Michigan Health System Department of Dermatology have found scientific evidence that the appearance of sun-damaged skin may be improved by treatment with a topical product that increases the skin's sensitivity to light, followed by laser therapy.

20 Oct 2008

LEDs May Help Reduce Skin Wrinkles

Researchers in Germany are describing a potential alternative to Botox and cosmetic surgery for easing facial wrinkles. Their study, scheduled for the November 5 issue of ACS' Crystal Growth + Design, a bi-monthly journal, reports that high intensity visible light from light emitting diodes (LEDs) applied daily for several weeks resulted in "rejuvenated skin, reduced wrinkle levels, juvenile complexion and lasting resilience."

20 Oct 2008

Revolutionary Non-Contact Optical Depth Sensing Technique Delivers Accurate Height Measurements

Prior to this new advancement any testing would require mechanical surface contact, which was impossible during sample movement, to take in account substrate and machine compliance. Now with the ability to observe the precise depth of the indenter without touch, sample motion is no longer an issue and true depth of the indenter can be directly recorded.

20 Oct 2008

Spire Corp. and Shuttleworth to Provide Components to Complement XsunX TFPV Manufacturing System

XsunX, Inc., a solar technology company, announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Spire Corporation and Shuttleworth Inc., who will provide components to complement the company's TFPV manufacturing system.

20 Oct 2008

New Sensor to Improve Road Safety

STMicroelectronics, a world leader in the design and manufacture of automotive ICs, today announced its first high-dynamic-range CMOS camera specifically tailored for the vision-based driver-assistance segment of the automotive market. The new sensor combines the company's world-class expertise in automotive markets together with leading-edge CMOS imaging technology.

20 Oct 2008

Contact Lenses Increase Risk of Infection with Pathogenic Amoebae

Contact lenses increase the risk of infection with pathogenic protozoa that can cause blindness. New research, published in the November issue of the Journal of Medical Microbiology, shows that a high percentage of contact lens cases in Tenerife are contaminated with Acanthamoeba that cannot be killed by normal contact lens solution.

20 Oct 2008

Successful in Action: SESAM from Carl Zeiss in Use for Metals Research

The special SESAM system, a high performance version of the LIBRA® 200 transmission electron microscope series from Carl Zeiss SMT, has been in use at the Stuttgart Center for Electron Microscopy (StEM) of the Max-Planck-Institute for Metals Research (MPI-MF) for the past 10 months.

20 Oct 2008

Introducing State-of-the-Art Digital Displays to Buses

In the first deal of this size and scale, Titan Worldwide today announced that it has signed a multi-million dollar deal with Litelogic, the UK-based digital advertising network solutions innovator, to receive and display Bus King size screens on transit authority buses, starting with tests in New York and Chicago.

20 Oct 2008

American Physical Society Award Recognizes Advances in Infrared Spectroscopy

The American Physical Society has awarded a UT Dallas researcher one of the society's highest honors, recognizing Dr. Yves Chabal's development of methods to better understand processes that take place on the silicon surface that is literally the platform for the multibillion-dollar semiconductor industry.

20 Oct 2008