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  • Volume 54, Issue 10

    • Volume 54, Issue 10

    (Image credit: Lannon Harley, ANU)
    Kai Wang holds a sample containing multiple metasurface camera lenses; when paired with some form of “on-off” click photon detection, such a lens can image multiple projections of polarization-encoded photon quantum states, including their amplitude, phase, coherence, and entanglement.
    Research

    Metasurface Optics: Metasurface camera lens to link between quantum computers and fiber-optic networks

    John Wallace
    Oct. 2, 2018
    Paired with on-off click photon detection, the lens provides a simple and robust way of imaging photon states, including their amplitude, phase, coherence, and entanglement.
    During optical trapping (OT) of ear stones in the saccule (sac) and utricle (ut)—two organs of the inner ear involved in sensing gravity and movement—in a zebrafish larva, researchers performed volumetric selective planar illumination microscopy (SPIM) of an area 300 μm deep into the brain. With the help of 2D galvo mirrors and an electrically tunable lens coordinating control, the imaging technique scans two 488 nm sheets of light through the z-axis, one from the front of the zebrafish and the other from the side (a); associate professor Ethan Scott, Dr. Itia A Favre-Bulle, and professor Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop are part of the Optical Physics in Neuroscience team at the University of Queensland that conducted the work, which won the 2018 Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Scientific Research.
    Research

    Fluorescence Microscopy/Neuroscience: Tricking the brain with optical trapping

    Barbara Gefvert
    Oct. 2, 2018
    The team’s approach was enabled by protein engineering and fluorescence imaging advances.
    A schematic of a few chained modular linear optical-circuit chips shows offsetting of each chip from the previous by one waveguide, thus forming a multiport interferometer; microheater phase shifters are shown in red.
    Research

    Waveguide Optics: Modular linear optical circuits can be chained to form complex information processors

    John Wallace
    Oct. 2, 2018
    Simple waveguide optical modules with a single layer of Mach-Zehnder interferometers are concatenated to form large multiport interferometers.
    (Image credit: Macquarie University)
    Shown is the physical setup for the tunable, beyond-3-µm-wavelength dysprosium-doped ZBLAN fiber laser.
    Lasers & Sources

    Mid-IR Lasers: Dysprosium mid-IR fiber laser generates picosecond pulses beyond 3 µm with rediscovered frequency shifting method

    Gail Overton
    Oct. 2, 2018
    Extending short-pulse fiber laser technology to longer wavelengths is a significant challenge that must be addressed to enable new photonic applications.
    Content Dam Lfw Print Articles 2018 10 1810lfw Nb F4
    Test & Measurement

    Terahertz multispectral reconstructive 3D imaging performs nanoscale metrology

    Gail Overton
    Oct. 2, 2018
    Nondestructive, noncontact terahertz imaging can overcome the Abbe diffraction limit and perform nanoscale measurement of semiconductor structures, even in three dimensions.

    More content from Volume 54, Issue 10

    Content Dam Lfw Print Articles 2018 10 1810lfw Nb F5
    Lasers & Sources

    Spatiospectral coupling enables in-band noise filtering for ultrafast lasers

    Gail Overton
    Oct. 1, 2018
    An in-band optical filter blocks broadband noise that effectively allows high gain but low-noise amplification for ultrashort-pulsed lasers.
    Content Dam Lfw Print Articles 2018 10 1810lfw Nb F2
    Test & Measurement

    Small and rugged optical magnetometer can measure femtotesla-level magnetic fields

    John Wallace
    Oct. 1, 2018
    Based on a magnetite-containing nanocomposite and an in-line fiber-optic Sagnac interferometer, the device could be used for mapping the brain’s magnetic fields.
    Optics

    Solid-immersion metalenses boost performance of IR focal-plane arrays

    John Wallace
    Oct. 1, 2018
    Metasurface lens arrays formed on solid substrates that contact focal-plane arrays focus light onto each pixel to increase sensitivity and allow raising the operating temperature...
    Content Dam Lfw Print Articles 2018 10 1810lfw Nb F1
    Research

    Optothermoplasmonic nanolithography patterns 2D materials on demand

    Gail Overton
    Oct. 1, 2018
    Localized heating of a plasmonic substrate by a focused laser ablates or displaces 2D material structures transferred onto the substrate, enabling rapid, submicron, maskless patterning...
    2105 Lfw Lpms Supp 9a
    Research

    Here’s to the future

    John Lewis
    Oct. 1, 2018
    New editor-in-chief John Lewis thanks predecessor Conard Holton and expresses desire to continue a long tradition of editorial excellence.
    Conard 720
    Research

    Business Forum: Quantum computing: What’s in it for photonics companies?

    Conard Holton
    Oct. 1, 2018
    Not all quantum computer approaches entail photonics, but several rely on high-precision lasers, single-photon detectors, and optical fiber.
    FIGURE 1. As indicated by this site information form, successfully performing a site survey requires essential information that includes room details, local noise sources, microscope details and positioning, and how the site survey is performed.
    Positioning, Support & Accessories

    Vibration Control: How to control vibration noise for superresolution microscopes

    Reid Whitney
    Oct. 1, 2018
    From site surveys to active vibration control, steps can be taken to keep your superresolution microscope stable and ready to collect data.
    FIGURE 1. An aspheric lens is mounted on a brass arbor.
    Test & Measurement

    Asphere Fabrication: Deterministic aspheric polishing uses multiwavelength interferometry for metrology

    Oct. 1, 2018
    Using a metrology device and corrective software, CNC polishers can now use deterministic polishing to directly achieve form errors of sub-100 nm.
    (Courtesy of the Wei Min lab, Columbia University)
    FIGURE 1. As living cells take in heavy water, newly made proteins, lipids, and DNA incorporate deuterium; under the light of an SRS microscope, various macromolecules can be identified within a single cell. University of California/Irvine chemistry professor Eric Potma, not involved in the work, called the technique beautifully simple, and said that “as microscopes continue to get smaller, deuterium-labeled SRS imaging may help to catch tumors at much earlier stages.”
    Research

    Raman Spectroscopy/Microscopy: Advances in SRS stimulate breakthroughs in single-cell metabolic imaging

    Barbara Gefvert
    Oct. 1, 2018
    A noninvasive, label-free technique, stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), is enabling important discoveries and tools.
    FIGURE 1. Optical spectra of the steady-state output pulse of a passively mode-locked fiber laser with an all-normal-dispersion laser resonator have been simulated using RP Fiber Power software; the bandwidth of the intracavity bandpass filter is varied from 3 to 12 nm.
    Software

    Ultrafast Lasers: Numerical simulation aids design of fiber-based ultrafast laser sources

    Dr. Rüdiger Paschotta
    Oct. 1, 2018
    The design of fiber-based ultrafast laser sources via numerical simulations leads to prototype and product designs with proven handling of nonlinear effects.
    FIGURE 1. Detailed is the principle of laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF).
    Research

    Photonics Applied: Noninvasive Medical Diagnosis: Pursuing the tricorder: Noninvasive photonics-based health monitoring

    Oct. 1, 2018
    Laser Doppler flowmetry and spectral biomarker monitoring are among the photonics technologies seeking ‘tricorder’ status for noninvasive medical diagnosis and treatment.
    FIGURE 1. Over the past 8 years, switch ASIC capacity growth has far outpaced that of optical modules; this widening gap is also reflected in relative cost per capacity (cost per Gbit/s), which for single-mode fiber-optic modules is now higher than for Ethernet switches.
    Optics

    Photonics for Datacenters: Integrated optics permeate datacenter networks

    Oct. 1, 2018
    Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and silicon-photonics-based optical engines will expand datacenter capabilities over the next decade.
    (Courtesy of Seno Medical)
    Masses initially categorized as BI-RADS 4a and suspicious on ultrasound because of irregular shape and microlobulation (a) were ultimately downgraded as nonsuspicious (BI-RADS 3) with OA/US technology (b) because of benign-appearing internal and capsular vessels.
    Software

    Optoacoustic Imaging: Breast-cancer diagnostic tool can eliminate some physical biopsies

    John Wallace
    Oct. 1, 2018
    The breast-tissue imager, which combines optoacoustic technology with B-mode ultrasound, has ultrastable optomechanics to increase reliability.
    (Image credit: Harbin Institute of Technology)
    Extrinsic structural color is possible by varying the periodicity of 205 nm thick MAPbBr3 perovskite gratings. The left panel compares experimental reflection spectra (solid lines) and simulated counterparts (dashed lines) as period (p) varies between 280, 310, 320, 340, 382, 400, and 400 nm, and gap (d) varies between 163, 107, 140, 105, 80, 110, 100, and 70 nm. The right panel shows the measured colors, SEM images, and calculated colors. The numerical color palette (left) is obtained by stepwise tuning of p and d.
    Research

    Color Displays: Perovskite optical gratings enable dynamic, tunable-color displays

    Gail Overton
    Oct. 1, 2018
    Mixing structural and emission colors in perovskite optical gratings enables dynamic, tunable-color displays.