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  • Volume 44, Issue 11

    • Volume 44, Issue 11

    Research

    Sleeping with the Dragon: The yin and yang of doing business with China

    Nov. 1, 2008
    The world is becoming “optically flat” as optical design and production continues to expand across the globe, reaching new manufacturing frontiers daily.
    Research

    The iPhone: a computer that also makes calls

    Jeffrey Bairstow
    Nov. 1, 2008
    The secret of the iPhone’s success is not that it makes cellular phone calls, but that it is also a handheld computer with an absolutely astounding number of third-party applications...
    1304qa Chang New
    Research

    What are the dos and don’ts of outsourcing?

    Milton Chang
    Nov. 1, 2008
    Should photonics companies outsource components or finished products? Where is a good place to outsource photonic products? And what are the top dos and don’ts?
    Fiber Optics

    Toward white light

    Stephen G. Anderson
    Nov. 1, 2008
    Optical fiber has undergone incredible transformation over the past decade, with modifications to the physical design, fabrication techniques, and materials all contributing to...
    Th New P 01
    Optics

    New Products

    Nov. 1, 2008
    Four new scout models, scA 1300-32, are based on Sony’s ICX-445 CCD sensor.

    More content from Volume 44, Issue 11

    (Courtesy of F. Hossain)
    FIGURE 1. Ab initio density functional theory determines the orbital isosurfaces for the nitrogen-vacancy center (left) and NE8 (right) center in diamond.
    Research

    QUANTUM DEVICES: Diamond technology enables practical single-photon sources

    Nov. 1, 2008
    Optically active color centers in diamond have been found to exhibit attractive optical properties that have paved the way to the realization of practical sources of single-photon...
    FIGURE 1. Ultraviolet (UV) detectors can be classified into several types, depending upon the mechanism of detection.
    Detectors & Imaging

    UV DETECTORS: Nitride-based UV detectors improve photodetection

    Nov. 1, 2008
    Compared to ultraviolet detectors based on traditional semiconductors like silicon and gallium arsenide, nitride-based UV detectors have improved insensitivity to visible and ...
    Th 299304
    Research

    Silicon rods demonstrate supercollimation in the infrared

    Nov. 1, 2008
    Supercollimation, the propagation of light without diffraction, uses the properties of photonic crystals to transmit signals over centimeter-scale distances—ideal for integrated...
    FIGURE 1. An example of a complex optical system shows multiple folds, wavelengths, and beam paths.
    Positioning, Support & Accessories

    ELECTRO-OPTICAL DEVICES: Novel methods simplify alignment of complex electro-optical systems

    Nov. 1, 2008
    Alignment of electro-optical devices with multiple paths, multiple sources, off-axis elements, tight tolerances, or difficult components can be simplified through well-known tools...
    (Courtesy of Fianium)
    FIGURE 1. A comparison of the visible spectral regions of new (upper spectrum) and conventional (lower spectrum) supercontinuum sources after dispersion through a prism demonstrates the extent of additional blue and UV spectral components achieved using the latest PCF developments.
    Fiber Optics

    SUPERCONTINUUM SOURCES: New white-light supercontinuum sources have no blue deficiency

    Nov. 1, 2008
    By changing the air-filling fraction of the photonic-crystal fibers used in white-light supercontinuum sources, the traditional “blue deficiency” of such sources is eliminated...
    Detectors & Imaging

    Better single-photon source couples QD to waveguide

    Nov. 1, 2008
    Single-photon sources have been successfully developed by coupling a single quantum dot (QD) to a photonic-crystal nanocavity.
    FIGURE 1. Ellipsometric fitting of the experimental data (cross-hatched lines) and model (solid lines) is improved when a thin interface is included (right side) for a SIMOX structure.
    Test & Measurement

    THIN-FILM METROLOGY: Innovations in ellipsometry facilitate thin-film analysis

    Nov. 1, 2008
    An advanced thin-film metrology tool based on spectroscopic ellipsometry and dedicated to the measurements of blank and patterned wafers is designed to reduce the need for modeling...
    Research

    Fibonacci-quasicrystal quantum-well structure emits more efficiently

    Nov. 1, 2008
    In a one-dimensional (1-D) periodic Bragg stack of light-emitting quantum wells (QWs), the standing-wave pattern has nodes at the QW positions, which for normal (perpendicular...
    FIGURE 1. Negative refraction bends light in the direction opposite from normal (positive) refraction. Energy flows in the same direction in a negative-index material as in one with a positive index, but light waves flow in the opposite direction, as shown at bottom.
    Optics

    PHOTONIC FRONTIERS: NEGATIVE-INDEX-MATERIALS: Negative-indexmaterials are on positive track

    Jeff Hecht
    Nov. 1, 2008
    Fabrication of three-dimensional metamaterials with negative refractive index at optical wavelengths has opened the way to dramatic new types of optics, such as “superlenses.
    Th 299840
    Fiber Optics

    Asymmetric optical potential barrier becomes Maxwell’s demon

    Nov. 1, 2008
    The hypothetical Maxwell’s demon opens and closes a tiny trapdoor dividing two containers of gas to shuttle atoms one way without exerting effort, raising the number of atoms ...
    Research

    Surface roughness impacts terahertz signal from explosives

    Nov. 1, 2008
    It makes sense that if the performance of a terahertz emitter is directly impacted by its surface structure (see “Black silicon emits terahertz radiation,” p.46)
    (Courtesy of Polymer Optical Fiber Application Center, Nürnberg)
    FIGURE 1. A prototype POF liquid-level sensor (left) works by exploiting the refractive-index difference of light in air versus a liquid. The sensor consists of a bundle of fibers (lower right) illuminated by a red light-emitting diode (LED) and connected to a low-cost CCD camera. A computer measures the intensity per fiber and displays the liquid level as a bar (upper right).
    Fiber Optics

    FIBER FOR CONSUMER APPLICATIONS: New fiber designs extend the reach of short-range POF

    Nov. 1, 2008
    Polymer optical fiber is benefiting from new modulation techniques and polymer designs that are extending data rates to 100 Gbit/s and improving POF performance for sensors, data...
    Research

    Free-space optical communications system transmits 10.7 Gbit/s

    Nov. 1, 2008
    Scientists at Discovery Semiconductors (Ewing, NJ), Science Applications International (Albuquerque, NM), the Air Force Research Laboratory (Kirtland AFB, NM), and Schafer (Albuquerque...
    Th 299305
    Detectors & Imaging

    Tiny nanowires make sensitive photodetectors

    Nov. 1, 2008
    Silicon (Si) nanowires are attractive as photodetectors for wavelengths ranging from ultraviolet (UV) to infrared because of their ability to trap carriers at the surface with...
    Optics

    Hybrid template approach achieves sub-30 nm NIL

    Nov. 1, 2008
    Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) is challenging extreme-ultraviolet lithography for the 32 nm mode and beyond.