© Endeavor Business Media
hot_list_ep_163graphic_1
In this episode: A Raman imaging approach for early cancer detection, two companies make leadership changes, and an ‘optical bomb’ paves the way to quantum tech.
Credit: Yufeng Zhang
The team's setup in the lab.
© Endeavor Business Media
lfw_ftpcraig_bandesgraphicsocmed
ID 130648906 © Viacheslav Dubrovin | Dreamstime.com
dreamstime_xxl_130648906
© Endeavor Business Media
lfw_ftptop_5_of_2025graphicsocmed
Sign up for our eNewsletters
Get the latest news and updates

Learning Resources

Courtesy of Avantier
A Fixed Focal Length Lens Solution for Helicopter Aerial Photography Lens
When aircraft such as helicopters or drones operate in turbulent, vibration-rich environments, capturing sharp, stable, high-resolution images becomes a true test of optical engineering...
Dec. 5, 2025
opticalringresonator_6
Sponsored
Discover how to design and analyze sophisticated optical waveguides using COMSOL Multiphysics® in this hands-on webinar. Learn how to build complex structures, evaluate mode fields...
Jan. 29, 2026
hubner_photonics_white_paper_lung_tissue_valo
Sponsored
Ultrafast lasers enable rapid cancer diagnosis with simultaneous two- and three-photon imaging.
Oct. 15, 2025
new__pi_phy__image
Sponsored
This paper reviews advances in precision motion control for photonics alignment and laser material processing, highlighting micro-hole drilling, new control algorithms, and hybrid...
Oct. 15, 2025

Podcast

Lasers/Sources

ID 40288390 | In © Marko Palm | Dreamstime.com
dreamstime_xxl_40288390_cropped
LFW’s editorial board shares their quick thoughts about the most intriguing things they saw happen within the optics/photonics/quantum realm in 2025, as well as emerging trends...
Dec. 26, 2025
ID 335429031 | 2025 © Prazis | Dreamstime.com
dreamstime_xxl_335429031
Here's a look back at the 10 most-popular articles we published in 2025.
Dec. 22, 2025
© Endeavor Business Media
lfw2025_iaward_new_web
Laser Focus World announces the winners of its 2025 annual Innovators Awards program.
Dec. 17, 2025
Credit: University of Applied Sciences Biberach (https://p-inst.com/life-science)
Widefield microscope image of a DAPI-stained mouse head; sagittal plane: 4x, 0.2 NA.
Recent advances in photonics are revolutionizing life sciences by enabling unprecedented precision for imaging, surgical procedures, and diagnostics.
Dec. 17, 2025

Optics

Credit: Purdue University/Kevin Crisp
Professor Vladimir Shalaev with the team’s optical setup. Credit: Purdue University/Kevin Crisp
Purdue University researchers demonstrate a photonic transistor at single-photon intensities—and solve a long-standing roadblock to photonic computing.
Dec. 19, 2025
Credit: Alex Demkov
A 200-mm barium titanate (BaTiO3) wafer from La Luce Cristallina.
AI, quantum computing, and ultralow-power networking are poised to transform the technology ecosystem, and barium titanate offers a pathway to industrial scalability.
Dec. 18, 2025
© Endeavor Business Media
lfw_ftpdirk_hauschildgraphicsocmed
Episode 81 of Following the Photons: A Photonics Podcast features Dirk Hauschild, a senior strategic marketing expert with Focuslight Technologies.
Dec. 9, 2025
Credit: CCraft
Processing of lithium niobate wafers.
The next generation of photonic integrated circuits is moving beyond silicon, driven by an industrial-scale effort to commercialize new material platforms like thin-film lithium...
Dec. 8, 2025

Quantum

Credit: Photonic Inc.
Silicon T center structure.
Scaling “up and out” is driving a wave of innovation in quantum photonics because the interplay between qubit platforms and photonic integration is central to system design.
Dec. 15, 2025
© Endeavor Business Media
lfw_ftptara_fortiergraphiclandscape
Episode 76 of Following the Photons: A Photonics Podcast features Dr. Tara Fortier, a project leader in the Time and Frequency Division at NIST.
Nov. 4, 2025
ID 19598090 © Zacarias Pereira Da Mata | Dreamstime.com
dreamstime_xxl_19598090
Here's a look back at three articles covering work involving quantum entanglement, which Albert Einstein famously viewed as “spooky action at a distance.”
Oct. 31, 2025
Credit: Michael Dobinson
Dark-field microscope image of a diode nanocavity device with a grating coupler (left) for optical excitation/collection and electrical connections to the p-i-n diode (top/bottom). Credit: Michael Dobinson
Beyond being a source of single photons, dual optical and electrical control of nanophotonic devices may enable scaling up to larger systems of quantum emitters on a single chip...
Oct. 30, 2025

Test/Measurement

Credit: Capt. Ray Jourdain, Ice Pilots, Canada
FIGURE 1. Icing accumulating on deck due to prow spray.
Work is underway to develop a standardized sea spray LiDAR system that works with artificial intelligence to deliver real-time data and early warnings to shipmasters about icing...
Dec. 11, 2025
Credit: North Carolina State University
The new spectrometer is just a few square millimeters in size, but sensitive enough to accurately measure a broader range of wavelengths than is currently possible with conventional technologies.
A miniature spectrometer that could fit onto a smartphone shows promise for a wide range of applications—from biomedical diagnostics to manufacturing.
Dec. 5, 2025
Credit: Enablence Technologies
FIGURE 1. Flash (a) vs. scan (b) LiDAR.
Solid-state frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) LiDAR systems integrate scanning, modulation, and detection directly into a single device—and it’s why costs are dropping...
Nov. 28, 2025
False color picture of the watermark of a €20 bank note, showing the amplitude of the transmitted terahertz electrical field signal with varying optical parameters of the material; the highest amplitude is shown in red, and the lowest in blue. The image was recorded by Menlo Systems’ TERA K15 THz-TDS system with TERA Image imaging extension unit and ImageLab processing software.
Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy has undergone a quiet evolution and is now moving from research labs onto production lines.
Oct. 30, 2025

Detectors/Imaging

© Endeavor Business Media
lfw_ftpozcan_part_2graphicsocmed
Episode 80 of Following the Photons: A Photonics Podcast features Part Two of our interview with Dr. Aydogan Ozcan, Chancellor's Professor at UCLA and HHMI Professor at Howard...
Dec. 2, 2025
Credit: Champalimaud Foundation
The team’s AI-assisted autofluorescence lifetime imaging setup accurately differentiates malignant from benign tissue in real time.
With its ability to accurately differentiate malignant from benign tissue in real time, an AI-assisted autofluorescence lifetime imaging technique is poised to help improve cancer...
Nov. 27, 2025
Credit: Mikael Nyberg
Part of the team’s reflectivity k-space setup. Credit: Mikael Nyberg
You bet—and these photodiodes provide tunability and record-level sensitivity for ultrathin devices.
Nov. 26, 2025
Credit: Vincenzo Pecunia
Credit: Vincenzo Pecunia
Photodetectors are evolving and diversifying so rapidly that a team of academia and industry photonics experts created “Consensus Statement” guidelines to consistently measure...
Nov. 20, 2025

Executive Forum

© Endeavor Business Media
lfw_ftplight_news_12
Dec. 23, 2025
© Endeavor Business Media
lfw_ftpmichele_nicholsgraphicsocmed
Dec. 16, 2025
ID 36330352 © Flynt | Dreamstime.com
dreamstime_xxl_36330352
Dec. 4, 2025
Technological advancements in silicon photonics paving the way to 400G per channel.
Members Only
Dec. 4, 2025