Optics

FIGURE 1. An echelle spectrograph disperses input light into multiple overlapping orders using a steep-blazed grating. A grism separates these orders perpendicularly and produces a 2D array of parallel spectra that are focused onto a CCD detector.

Advanced echelle gratings enable high-precision exoplanet detection

Spectroscopic measurements of radial velocity are an important tool for exoplanet hunting, and high-resolution gratings are a key enabling technology.

Oct. 9, 2026

From pixels to optical links: MicroLEDs pivot to copackaged optics

Oct. 8, 2026

Henri B. Kagan (left) and Kenso Soai (right), winners of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Discovery of ‘how and why’ homochirality emerges receives 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Oct. 7, 2026

FIGURE 1. Stray light missing the primary mirror and reaching the detector.

Virtual prototyping before hardware: From optical design to system performance

Oct. 5, 2026

Tailor-made, large nonlinearities within nanophotonic devices?

Oct. 1, 2026

Andrea Arduin (left) and Professor Ole Bang, who heads the Fiber Sensors and Supercontinuum Group at DTU Electro, in the lab.

Lasers & Sources

‘Cooked’ fiber doubles range of ultralow-noise supercontinuum lasers

Sept. 30, 2026

UC Riverside and LIGO Laboratory researchers move a 40-kg LIGO mirror into position to test a prototype FROSTI wavefront actuator in vacuum.

Detectors & Imaging

Wide-aperture wavefront sensing from thermal imaging

Sept. 29, 2026

PODCAST: Meet Garrett Cole, University of Arizona Wyant College of Optical Sciences (PART TWO)

Following the Photons: A Photonics Podcast

Sept. 22, 2026

Coatings for Space Optics: Designing Light, Surviving Space