Sensores

A new approach to guiding and controlling light, based on the process of diffusion, can enhance light transmission by orders of magnitude, even along curved trajectories. The diffusion waveguiding approach could be used in future medical imaging technologies. It could also be adapted to guide heat, instead of light, and to confine particles like neutrons, instead of light waves.

Developed by researchers at the University of Glasgow, in collaboration with the University of Arizona, the new waveguiding mechanism shows that photon density can propagate as a guided mode along a core structure embedded in a scattering, opaque material. It guides the flow of energy by transporting light through a solid core of weakly scattering material...

MKS Instruments has added Wissam Jabre, executive vice president and CFO of Western Digital Corporation, to its board of directors. Jabre previously served as senior vice president and CFO of Dialog Semiconductor from 2016 until it was acquired by Renesas Electronics in August 2021. Prior to that, he held senior finance roles at Advanced Micro Devices, Freescale Semiconductor, and Motorola. He began his career with Schlumberger, where he held engineering and finance roles.

STOCKHOLM — Digital reality solutions company Hexagon AB has appointed Norbert Hanke as interim president and CEO, effective immediately, following the departure of outgoing president and CEO Paolo Guglielmini. Hanke joined Hexagon in 2001, most recently...

SPIE has named finalists for the 2025 Prism Awards. The 24 products — from companies ranging from emerging innovators to industry stalwarts — selected in eight categories, will be honored during a Jan. 29 gala evening at SPIE Photonics West. The annual event, which will be celebrating its 17th year, recognizes commercialized innovation in photonics, honoring companies that are bringing transformative products to market.

The 2025 SPIE Prism Awards will honor companies for breakthrough photonics innovations. The awards, presented in a ceremony at Photonics West, will recognize awardees in eight categories. Courtesy of SPIE. Rapidly developing technology areas such as quantum, sensors, imaging, and biomedical showcase the...

Europe’s Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU), the European public-private partnership that supports research, development, and innovation in semiconductor technologies, is beginning negotiations with the PIXEurope consortium to establish the Advanced Photonic Integrated Circuits (PIC) Pilot Line for Europe. The pilot line, expected to be established in the Netherlands, will be jointly funded by the European Union, through the Horizon Europe and Digital Europe Programmes, participating states, and private organizations.

PIXEurope's PIC pilot line will bring together Europe’s top research organizations to set up the world’s first open access PIC ecosystem, the Chips JU said in a statement. It will use state-of-the-art...

The board of Sivers Semiconductors is pausing its discussions related to the proposed business combination between subsidiary Sivers Photonics and special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) ByNordic.

“While we agree with ByNordic's thesis that our photonics business is highly undervalued in Sivers' current market capitalization with its critical positioning in the upcoming AI datacenters, the capital markets for successfully executing SPAC mergers remain challenging,” said Bami Bastani, chairman of the board of directors of Sivers Semiconductors AB. “Consequently, we have elected to put our pencils down on this opportunity.”

According to the company, the decision was made after a thorough evaluation and...

Traditional imaging systems are bidirectional — if a camera can see a person, the person can see a camera. Researchers at UCLA recently developed a new type of imaging technology that could revolutionize how visual information is captured and processed: unidirectional imaging. By allowing images to be formed in only one direction, this technology provides an efficient and compact method for asymmetric visual information processing and communication.

Unidirectional imaging is designed to form images from one FOV to another, while blocking image formation in the reverse direction. This means that images are only formed from FOV A to FOV B and not the other way around.
Unidirectional imaging technology forms images in only one...

Semiconductor test and measurement specialist FormFactor has formed a strategic partnership with semiconductor test equipment supplier Advantest Corporation to develop a test cell and measurement system designed for high-volume production of silicon photonics and co-packaged optics devices. According to the companies, the test cell integrates the latest innovations from both parties, equipping photonics device developers with the tools they need to scale up volume production.

The test cell features a photonic alignment with nine-axis nano-precision, and full integration of FormFactor’s Velox probe station control and wafer-level measurement with Advantest’s V93000 test system. The platform also facilitates optical...

The Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (Leibniz-IPHT) and the State University of New York at Albany (SUNY Albany) have established the Center for Biophotonic Technology and Artificial Intelligence (CeBAI) at SUNY Albany’s campus. The center will focus on developing solutions for medicine and forensics using photonic technologies and AI, and to accelerate their path to market.

Representatives from SUNY Albany and Leibniz-IPHT at CeBAI’s inaugural event. Courtesy of SUNY Albany. “We expect this collaboration to result not only in a large number of research projects, but also in several spin-off companies developing diagnostic and forensic innovations,” said Jürgen Popp, professor and scientific...

In a series of announcements this week, IonQ has stated that it will acquire quantum networking company Qubbitek, and has established partnerships with NKT Photonics and Ansys. The moves serve to strengthen the company’s position within the quantum market.

IonQ reached a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all of the operating assets of Qubitekk. The deal, which is expected to close within the next six months, adds 118 U.S. and international patents in the areas of quantum networking hardware and quantum network security and protection.

As part of the transaction, the Qubitekk team will join IonQ, including Qubitekk co-founder and CEO Stan Ellis, co-founder and CTO Duncan Earl, chief revenue officer Corey...

AllFocal Optics, a nanophotonic display company, has secured $5.3 million in seed funding. The funding will go towards commercialization of the company’s optics offerings. The company is a spinout of the University of Cambridge developing technologies for AR, VR, and MR applications.

A laser was used during the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new biophotonics lab. Courtesy of UCF. ORLANDO, Fla. — The University of Central Florida (UCF) has opened a new biophotonics lab at the College of Medicine’s Burnett Biomedical Sciences building in Lake Nona, Florida. The University said that it will provide opportunities for UCF undergraduate, graduate, medical students, residents, and fellows to conduct research. Projects such...

Xavveo, developer of a 4D photonic radar technology, has raised an $8.6 million seed round to support the commercialization of its distributed photonic radar technology. Xavveo’s technology platform has applications in autonomous vehicles, as well as factory automation and healthcare monitoring. Xavveo's current system uses advanced monolithic silicon photonics technology to provide lidar-like native angular resolution of <0.1º and provides a high level of reliability in detecting obstacles. According to the company, the technology allows autonomous vehicles a 360º field of view and retains its reliability in adverse weather conditions.

Xavveo was founded by current company CEO Sven Otte and CTO Stefan Meister,...

A new technique for 3D surface measurement, called fringe photometric stereo (FPS), could improve the speed and accuracy of surface measurements taken for industrial inspection, medical applications, robotic vision, and other purposes.

The FPS method for acquiring and reconstructing 3D surface measurements was developed by a research team at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.

FPS speeds up the image scanning process and enables high-quality, unambiguous 3D reconstruction by requiring fewer fringe patterns than traditional fringe projection profilometry (FPP).
Researchers developed a method for acquiring and reconstructing high-quality 3D surface measurements that is faster and more accurate than...

Liquid Instruments has integrated artificial intelligence (AI) into its Moku platform, including a new instrument, the Moku Neural Network. The added capabilities enable the quick deployment of machine learning models to physical systems, for applications including signal analysis, denoising, sensor conditioning, and closed loop feedback.

The Moku platform uses field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) to deliver a suite of instruments — from bench essentials including an oscilloscope to advanced tools including a lock-in amplifier — on one device. The Moku Neural Network enables users to rapidly develop and train their own artificial neural networks with Python and upload them to their Moku:Pro device.

Liquid...

Teledyne Technologies Inc. has entered into an agreement to acquire select aerospace and defense electronics businesses from Excelitas Technologies Corp. in a deal valued at $710 million (cash). The acquisition includes the Optical Systems (OS) Business, which is known under the Qioptiq brand based in Northern Wales, as well as the U.S.-based Advanced Electronic Systems (AES) business.

The UK-based OS Business provides advanced optics for heads-up and helmet-mounted displays, dismounted tactical night vision systems and proprietary glass used in space and satellite applications. In the U.S., the AES business provides custom energetics, including electronic safe and arm devices, high-voltage semiconductor switches and rubidium...

Through its subsidiary Photonics Management Corp., Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. has acquired BAE Systems Imaging, a San Jose, Calif.-based semiconductor manufacturer specializing in high-performance CMOS image sensors in the visible to near-infrared and X-ray regions. BAE Systems Imaging is currently subsidiary to parent company BAE Systems. Following the transaction, Hamamatsu said, BAE Systems Imaging will be known as Fairchild Imaging and will become Hamamatsu’s North American design center for 2D, low-noise image sensors.

BAE Systems Imaging’s (Fairchild's) core products include scientific CMOS (sCMOS) image sensors, as well as X-ray CMOS image sensors for dental and medical diagnostic applications. Hamamatsu said that it...

A new cationic-based photoresist can improve the production speed of two-photon lithography (TPL) without sacrificing resolution. The highly sensitive photoresist, called TP-EO (short for two-photon epoxy oligomer), was developed by a team at Zhejiang University.

TPL is a powerful tool for creating complex 3D shapes at the nanoscale. It uses photoresists — materials that change their chemical properties when exposed to light — to allow precise control during the nanofabrication process.

However, high-throughput TPL is problematic, especially for cationic-based photoresists. Cationic photoresists, like the classic SU-8 epoxy photoresist, often take longer to fabricate and result in less detailed structures, compared...

Teledyne DALSA has entered into a collaboration with Wickon Hightech s.r.o, a provider of advanced inspection and measurement systems. Teledyne DALSA will combine its high-resolution imaging sensors and systems with Wickon’s solutions in 3D inspection and measurement to develop 3D scanning solutions and expand their global market presence.

The companies claim that the 3D scanning solutions will enable faster and more accurate inspection and measurements across various industries, including semiconductors, battery and fuel cells, precision manufacturing, and healthcare.

Electro optics research company Norsk Elektro Optikk (NEO) has opened a new branch of its hyperspectral imaging-focused subsidiary HySpex in Berlin. HySpex GmbH will serve as a sales and support hub for both new and existing European clients with a broader aim of strengthening NEO’s European presence.

In addition to supporting traditional market segments, HySpex GmbH will focus on expanding HySpex’s role as an OEM provider for industrial suppliers and exploring new opportunities within the space industry. “We’ve already witnessed the positive impact of local support for our clients through HySpex Inc., our office in the U.S.,” said NEO CCO Hallvard Skjerping. “This new office will help us build on...

Using a laser and a light-reactive gel, a research team led by Hao Liu at ETH Zurich produced highly aligned microfilament structures for growing connective, nerve, and muscle tissue in a lab. The optically-based approach developed by the team could open new possibilities for building lifelike tissue models for biomedical research and translational medicine.

To successfully fabricate tissues in the laboratory, researchers must replicate the way that the cells in biological tissues are aligned. In many cases, this is achieved by producing a 3D, biocompatible tissue scaffold with aligned microstructures to serve as a platform on which to grow the tissues.

Liu first worked with lab-grown tissue as a graduate student in Osaka, when...

Teledyne Technologies and Micropac Industries have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Micropac will be merged with a wholly owned subsidiary of Teledyne. The transaction, expected to close by the end of 2024, values Micropac at approximately $57.3 million.

Micropac, founded in 1963, designs and manufactures microelectronic circuits, optoelectronic components, and sensor and display assemblies, primarily for military, aerospace, and medical applications.