Optics and Photonics News

HACH LANGE Announces Winner of Ireland’s Oldest Working Hach Spectrophotometer

To celebrate the launch of the new spectrophotometers; DR 3900 and DR 6000, instrumentation specialist HACH LANGE launched a competition to find the oldest operational HACH or LANGE photometer in Ireland.Extensive research revealed that the contestant with the oldest instrument, and winner of a brand new DR 3900,isMichael Whelan of Wicklow County Council with his DR3 spectrophotometer purchased in 1985.

Ultrafast Camera Tracks Collision Energy of Projectiles Slamming into Bed of Disks

High-speed video of projectiles slamming into a bed of disks has given scientists a new microscopic picture of the way a meteorite or missile transfers the energy of its impact to sand and dirt grains.

Advanced Telescopes Help View Rossiter-McLaughlin Effect during Transit of Venus

A team of Italian astronomers performed a very difficult measurement for which it was necessary to use the most advanced instrumentation in combination with an unusual technique, so as to involve even the Moon as a natural astronomical mirror.

Astrobiology Researchers Search for Precursors to Life in Newly Born Stars

A team of astrobiology researchers – including two from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute – will use a series of nighttime flights on an airborne observatory to search newly born stars for the presence of precursors to life.

A team of astrobiology researchers – including two from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute – will use a series of nighttime flights on an airborne observatory to search newly born stars for the presence of precursors to life.

Menicon Commences Construction of New Multipurpose Contact Lens Facility in Emmen

Contact lens maker Menicon Co., Ltd. (head office: Nagoya, Japan) today announced the latest step in its long-term effort to meet the vision needs of customers across Europe.

ALMA Observatory Accepts 25th 12-m Antenna from General Dynamics

The 25th and final 12-meter (40-foot) antenna manufactured by General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies has been formally accepted by the Joint Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) Observatory. Delivered to the Operations Support Facility in the Chilean Andes, the 115-ton, highly specialized radio-telescope antenna is completing final integration and testing before being moved up to the Array Operations Site which is 16,400 feet above sea level.

Silicon-Based Optical Fiber with Solar-Cell Capabilities

For the first time, a silicon-based optical fiber with solar-cell capabilities has been developed that has been shown to be scalable to many meters in length. The research opens the door to the possibility of weaving together solar-cell silicon wires to create flexible, curved, or twisted solar fabrics.

Gigahertz-Optik’s New Model Integrating Sphere Source ISS-8P-HP

Integrating sphere light sources provide a uniform and variable light output making them useful as calibration light source standards for PRNU Photo-Response Non-Uniformity comparison of imaging systems and sensors.

New Method to Produce Metal-Organic Frameworks for Optics, Photonics Applications

Researchers of the KIT Institute of Functional Interfaces (IFG), Jacobs University Bremen, and other institutions have developed a new method to produce metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). By means of the so-called liquid-phase epitaxy, the scientists succeeded in producing a new class of MOFs with a pore size never reached before. These frameworks open up interesting applications in medicine, optics, and photonics. The new class of MOFs, called "SURMOF 2", is presented in the "Nature Scientific Reports" journal.