Fiber sensing

July 1, 2019
Editor in chief John Lewis introduces Laser Focus World’s July 2019 issue, which includes trends in photonics technologies, applications, and markets.
2105 Lfw Lpms Supp 9a
2105 Lfw Lpms Supp 9a
2105 Lfw Lpms Supp 9a
2105 Lfw Lpms Supp 9a
2105 Lfw Lpms Supp 9a

Laser Focus World Senior Editor Gail Overton published a ‘Build the wall’ with fiber optics commentary in January on laserfocusworld.com. In it, she proposed the use of distributed fiber-optic vibration sensor technology along the U.S. southern border wall. In this issue, we have an update on how fiber-optic sensing provides real-time intrusion monitoring and its potential in numerous real-world security and surveillance applications (see article).

Also in this issue, Senior Editor John Wallace discusses how high-energy lasers are tough on optical coatings across the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared, and presents numerous commercial examples of how manufacturers have responded with better and cleaner coating processes that create thin-film coatings with high laser-induced damage threshold (see article). You can also read about the role of silicon-photonics-based tunable lasers and how this technology is driving the next wave of coherent communications (see article).

Our BioOptics World feature (see article) reports on how a variety of imaging techniques—including differential interference contrast (DIC) and fluorescence microscopy—have been combined with optogenetics and electrophysiological measurements to successfully investigate the action of neurotransmitters in neuromuscular signaling. In addition, you can learn how operational procedures can minimize motion repeatability errors and compensate for thermal expansion to improve linear stage positioning performance (see article).

We also cover how liquid-crystal metasurface optics are making the transition from research to practical use, where they may promise to enable the next generation of solid-state lidar beam steering for autonomous automotive applications (see article). Finally, we offer a primer on beam quality that discusses how beam profile parameters provide insight on system performance (see article). As always, I hope you enjoy this issue.

About the Author

John Lewis | Editor in Chief (2018-2021)

John Lewis served as Editor in Chief of Laser Focus World from August 2018 through October 2021, after having served as the Editor in Chief of Vision Systems Design from 2016 to 2018. He has technical, industry, and journalistic qualifications, with more than 13 years of progressive content development experience working at Cognex Corporation. Prior to Cognex where his articles on machine vision were published in dozens of trade journals, he was a technical editor for Design News, covering automation, machine vision, and other engineering topics, for over six years.

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