Optics & Photonics News

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Optics on a Chip

In work that could lead to completely new devices, systems and applications in computing and telecommunications, MIT researchers are bringing the long-sought goal of "optics on a chip" one step closer to market.

8 Jul 2007

MIT Scientists Develop Optical System Made of Mesh-Like Webs of Light-Detecting Fibers

In a radical departure from conventional lens-based optics, MIT scientists have developed a sophisticated optical system made of mesh-like webs of light-detecting fibers.

8 Jul 2007

Artificial Star

On 28 January 2006, at 23:07 local time, a laser beam of several watts was launched from Yepun, the fourth 8.2m Unit Telescope of the Very Large Telescope, producing an artificial star, 90 km up in the atmosphere.

5 Jul 2007

Quantum Encryption - Distance Record for Quantum Key Distribution

Particles of light serving as "quantum keys" — the latest in encryption technology — have been sent over a record-setting 200-kilometer fiber-optic link by researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), NTT Corp. in Japan, and Stanford University.

5 Jul 2007

New Source of Coherent Optical Radiation Discovered

With the exception of lasers and free-electron lasers, there hasn't been another fundamental way to produce coherent light for close to 50 years.

5 Jul 2007

Photoacoustic Detection Technique Used to Listen to Cancer

Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia can now detect the spread of skin cancer cells through the blood by literally listening to their sound.

5 Jul 2007

Scientists Successfully Laser-Cool and Trap Radium Atoms

Argonne researchers have successfully laser-cooled and trapped atoms of radium — the first time this rare element has been captured in a magneto-optical trap — with an assist from an unexpected source.

5 Jul 2007

Scientists Use Laser Tweezers to Sort Atoms

Physicists of the University of Bonn have taken one more important hurdle on the path to what is known as a quantum computer: by using 'laser tweezers' they have succeeded in sorting up to seven atoms and lining them up.

5 Jul 2007

Large Study Evaluates Laser Treatment for AMD Vision Loss

According to a study that appears in the November 2006 issue of the journal Ophthalmology, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and 21 other clinical centers have found that low-intensity laser treatment - thought to be potentially beneficial in slowing or preventing the loss of vision from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) - is ineffective in preventing complications of AMD or vision loss.

5 Jul 2007

Lasers Used to Cool and Trap Erbium Atoms

Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have used lasers to cool and trap erbium atoms, a "rare earth" heavy metal with unusual optical, electronic and magnetic properties.

5 Jul 2007

New Book, Laser Beam Shaping Applications

Following up on their well-received first book, Laser Beam Shaping: Theory and Techniques, Sandia National Laboratories researchers Fred Dickey and Scott Holswade have edited (with David Shealy of the University of Alabama at Birmingham) a compact new volume, Laser Beam Shaping Applications.

5 Jul 2007

New Photonic Device for Greater Optical Data Storage

Engineers and applied scientists from Harvard University have demonstrated a new photonic device with a wide range of potential commercial applications, including dramatically higher capacity for optical data storage.

5 Jul 2007

ESA's GIOVE-A Laser Ranging Campaign Successful

Fourteen laser ranging stations participated in a campaign to track ESA's GIOVE-A satellite during the spring and summer of 2006, providing invaluable data for the characterisation of the satellite's on-board clock.

5 Jul 2007

New Laser-Based Technique Provides First Non-Invasive Test to Measure Skin Aging

Physicists and medical researchers for the first time have demonstrated a new technique that non-invasively measures in real time the level of damage to the skin from sun exposure and aging, and initial results suggest that women's skin ages faster than men's.

5 Jul 2007

Solvay and Georgia Tech Ink Deal on OLED Research

The Georgia Institute of Technology's Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics (COPE) and Solvay announced a $3 million deal for OLED research today.

5 Jul 2007