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  • Volume 44, Issue 1

    • Volume 44, Issue 1

    Th 0801lfwsc
    Detectors & Imaging

    Machine-vision software masters corner detection

    Jan. 1, 2008
    In machine vision, edge-detection algorithms locate intensity transitions within an image that correspond to physical edges.
    Research

    Who won the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics?

    Jeffrey Bairstow
    Jan. 1, 2008
    That’s a very serious question, believe you me. The winners of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics barely made a minor dent in the major media in the U.S.
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    Research

    Women in STEM fields still need support

    Jan. 1, 2008
    Snell, Fraunhofer, Fresnel, Fizeau, and Raman: a few of the numerous men after whom optical principles are named.
    Th 0801lfwams Tech
    Optics

    New Products

    Jan. 1, 2008
    The Optical Fiber Length Meter from Oz Optics measures the lengths of multimode, single-mode, and polarization-maintaining fibers, including fibers for nontelecom wavelengths....
    1304qa Chang New
    Research

    Does government funding yield enough photonics licenses?

    Milton Chang
    Jan. 1, 2008
    Q: My impression is very few photonics technologies that came out of government-sponsored research, even when they are useful product ideas, are ever licensed.

    More content from Volume 44, Issue 1

    Optics

    Retinal flow cytometer tracks circulating blood cells

    Jan. 1, 2008
    A retinal flow cytometer developed by researchers from the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School (Cambridge, MA) has demonstrated...
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    Research

    ACTIVE SURFACE PLASMONS: Tuning of surface plasmons leads to new optoelectronic devices

    Jan. 1, 2008
    Surface plasmons can be thought of as light waves trapped and traveling along the interface between a metal and a dielectric material.
    Research

    Researchers propose ‘on-chip’ single-photon gun

    Jan. 1, 2008
    Single-photon sources and detectors are highly desirable for quantum information systems.
    (Courtesy of Coherent)
    FIGURE 1. With PermAlign technology, each optic in a diode-pumped solid-state laser cavity is rigidly soldered to a ceramic base.
    Fiber Optics

    LASERS FOR MARKING: DPSS lasers rival fiber lasers for marking applications

    Jan. 1, 2008
    A unique monolithic mounting system results in a highly stable diode-pumped solid-state laser source that can address a wider spectrum of marking applications than fiber lasers...
    (Courtesy of ORC Southampton)
    FIGURE 1. A silica microstructured optical fiber fabricated at the University of Southampton Optoelectronics Research Centre demonstrates the flexibility of sizes and arrangement of holes that can be fabricated in a single fiber.
    Research

    ENDOSCOPIC FIBER: Microfluidic chemical deposition moves optical fiber to the nanoscale

    Jan. 1, 2008
    The use of a novel chemical-vapor-deposition process to integrate metals and semiconductor films in microstructured optical fibers may soon enable nanometer-scale waveguides and...
    Detectors & Imaging

    Iridium (III) device emits red light efficiently

    Jan. 1, 2008
    Flexible displays have proven inefficient compared to other types of displays and, so far, expensive to fabricate.
    FIGURE 1. A basic field-effect transistor consists of a source and drain of charge carriers that connect to a channel controlled by a gate (top). A fundamental standing-charge-density oscillation, known as a plasmon, sloshes between two boundaries (bottom left). Increased current causes a higher harmonic of the fundamental plasmon, splitting the group in two (bottom right). Like a spring constant, increasing the carrier density in the channel increases the resonant frequency.
    Detectors & Imaging

    NEXT-GENERATION DETECTORS: Plasmon grating-gate devices have potential as tunable terahertz detectors

    Jan. 1, 2008
    Plasmon-based grating-gate detectors based on hot-electron bolometer mixers are being explored as tunable detectors of terahertz radiation—the next big thing in security applications...
    Research

    InGaAs quantum-well lasers provide alternative to 1.55 µm GaAs-based lasers

    Jan. 1, 2008
    Gallium arsenide (GaAs) lasers at 1.3 and 1.55 µm have received a lot of attention in the past several years for their potential as inexpensive, high-speed, uncooled sources for...
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    Research

    TERAHERTZ GENERATION: Near-IR lasers may close the terahertz gap

    Jan. 1, 2008
    In seafarers’ maps of Renaissance times, the term terra incognita was used to denote unknown land-areas beyond the known frontiers that were yet to be documented.
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    Optics

    Fiber Bragg gratings switch in nanoseconds

    Jan. 1, 2008
    High-speed switching or tuning of light in fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) can be applied to Q-switching, cavity dumping, and pulse picking in a fiber laser, among other applications...
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    Lasers & Sources

    Orange-red chromophores produce stable white-emitting OLEDs

    Jan. 1, 2008
    White-light organic and polymer light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs and WPLEDs) show promise for use in full-color displays, liquid-crystal-display backlights, and solid-state lighting...
    FIGURE 1. Five Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensors-one on-axis and four off-axis-measure the quality of mobile-phone camera lenses. Light from a multipinhole light source is used to illuminate the lens, and the five cameras record the spot patterns. A calibration image is taken using parallel light from a high-quality lens. After analysis, the good and bad lenses are automatically sorted out. The whole operation takes less than five seconds. The off-axis angles can be defined by the user.
    Optics

    TEST & MEASUREMENT: Wavefront sensing goes off-axis

    Jan. 1, 2008
    A new generation of diagnostic instruments based on the Shack-Hartmann method can be used to measure the optical quality of single or complex lenses, measuring on-axis as well...
    Optics

    Silicon modulators could enable laptop supercomputers

    Jan. 1, 2008
    Scientists at IBM Research (Yorktown Heights, NY) have developed silicon Mach-Zehnder electro-optic modulators so tiny that supercomputers-consisting of thousands of individual...
    Lasers & Sources

    JDSU introduces 10 W single-emitter diode laser

    Jan. 1, 2008
    JDSU (Milpitas, CA) has introduced a new single-emitter diode-laser platform that the company says is the most powerful fiber-coupled diode laser now on the market.
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    Research

    Tapered QC lasers reduce beam divergence

    Jan. 1, 2008
    Although mid- to far-infrared quantum-cascade (QC) lasers are ideal for gas sensing, free-space optical communications, and imaging, their high beam divergence (typically about...