Sensores

Sydor Technologies, a developer of advanced diagnostics and high speed imaging for defense, research, and industrial applications, has named Nicholas West president. West will oversee daily operations of Sydor’s U.S. and U.K. businesses, reporting to company founder Michael Pavia, who will transition to chairman of the board.
Nicholas West. Courtesy of Sydor Technologies.

A micrometer-thin film coated over a flat glass substrate can deflect a light beam in the same way as a prism. This film can be fabricated to be structurally smooth, at a molecular level, and as clear and haze-free as a polished window of fused silica or sapphire.


Courtesy of BEAM Engineering for Advanced Measurements Co.

With an even wider transmission spectrum than classic optical windows, these flat prisms and lenses — as well as optical vortices, axicons, patterned phase plates, beam shapers, and numerous custom optics — find use for a variety of demanding applications. Many of these applications involve high-energy laser beams and take place in harsh environmental conditions, including in space and on the...

On Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2023, the clock started ticking on what would become a seismic 24-hour period. For those of us in North America, it began when we woke up to the news that Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz, and Anne L’Huillier had been announced as winners of the Nobel Prize in physics. The trio’s award, in recognition of their advancements in attosecond pulse generation, established consecutive years in which a photonics (or photonics-enabled) achievement was celebrated with the ultimate honor.

In the optical sciences community, the 2023 winners represented something more. Though the accomplishments of Agostini, Krausz, and L’Huillier made it six of the last 10 Nobel Prizes in physics to have a photonics...

The commonly accepted definition of a cleanroom is a controlled environment that filters out pollutants such as dust, airborne microbes, and aerosol particles to provide the cleanest area possible. Cleanrooms are grouped, or classified, by the number of particles allowed in the air per cubic meter. These work areas control additional variables, such as temperature, airflow, and humidity.

The precise function of a cleanroom depends on its group. Certain cleanrooms are dedicated to fabrication operations. Others support Class 1 products used in automated operations — similar to a manufacturing environment. Cleanrooms that contain a high-power laser system, such as terawatt or petawatt systems, are classified separately.


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Air travel is not for everyone. Whether you’re afraid of heights, your wallet can’t cover the rising cost of a ticket, or you’re too tall to cram yourself into the ever-dwindling confines of a seat, there are many conceivable reasons as to why someone would forgo a trip in a flying aluminum can in favor of four-wheeled travel.

For the brave souls who can look past all of the prerequisite fears of boarding an airplane, and find it in themselves to surrender to their small uncomfortable seat, there may also be the threat of losing sleep that makes flying that much less appealing. Jet lag is rarely inescapable when flying across time zones due to our pesky circadian rhythm telling our bodies when night and daytime...

Developer of industrial cleaning laser systems Laser Photonics Corporation (LPC) has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Control Micro Systems, Inc. (CMS), a provider of laser solutions for the pharmaceutical industry. The acquisition of CMS' assets, in a deal worth $1.05 million, is expected to provide an opportunity for Laser Photonics to strategically broaden its market reach, engineering talent, and technology portfolio for the medical and pharmaceuticals industries.
Control Micro Systems’ (CMS') laser drilling system used in controlled-release tablet production and packaging compliance. Courtesy of Laser Photonics Corporation. CMS delivers precision laser solutions to the pharmaceutical industry, particularly for...

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has launched Project DioHELIOS, part of its Fusion 2040 – Research on the Way to the Fusion Power Plant funding initiative. The three-year joint project, funded with €17.3 million (~$19 million), aims to advance high-power laser diodes for fusion power plants, which the German government expects to be built as early as the 2040s.

Project DioHELIOS brings together ams-OSRAM, the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut (FBH), Leibniz-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik (FBH), the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT, Jenoptik, Laserline, and TRUMPF to boost the power and efficiency of high-power laser diodes and develop approaches for their automated mass...

Opterro, Inc. has signed a memorandum of understanding with Gooch & Housego PLC (G&H), manufacturer of photonic components and systems, aiming to combine Opterro’s fiber-optic distributed systems with G&H’s high-volume manufacturing capabilities to address the needs of industry and government customers across various sectors. The partnership will initially investigate commercial feasibility, with the intent to develop a long-term supply agreement that facilitates the expanding global distribution of Opterro’s sensing systems and end-to-end solutions. President of G&H Stratos Kehayas will also join Opterro’s board of directors as an observer.

The COMBS research team. Courtesy of RMIT University....

NY CREATES’ Albany NanoTech Complex is the expected location for the CHIPS for America EUV Accelerator, the first of three National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) facilities. The designation will be supported by an estimated $825 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce and is expected to garner significant investment in extreme ultraviolet (lithography) R&D under the CHIPS and Science Act.

The EUV Accelerator will serve as a focal point for advanced semiconductor R&D initiatives and support programs to bolster the necessary workforce. Research at the facility will focus on innovation in semiconductor technologies with the aim of supporting the U.S. domestic supply chain and the development of...

Researchers at the University of Tokyo have increased the measurement rate of Raman spectroscopy by 100-fold. Since the measurement rate of the technique has been a major limitation, the improvement is expected to aid advancements in multiple fields relying on the identification of molecules and cells, such as biomedical diagnostics and material analytics.

As a mode of identification for cells and molecules, Raman spectroscopy is widely used, but it’s limited in its ability to keep up with the speed of changes in certain chemical and physical reactions due to the low scattering cross section.

Over the last decade, various broadband-coherent Raman scattering spectroscopy techniques have been developed to address the...

The Israeli Ministry of Defense has committed more than $500 million to expand serial production of the country’s first domestically developed weapon system, the Iron Beam, with lead developers Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Elbit Systems.

Iron Beam is a ground-based 100 kW-class high energy laser air defense system designed to counter aerial threats, including rockets, mortars, unmanned aerial vehicles, and cruise missiles. The Israeli Ministry of Defense’s Directorate of Defense, Research & Development (DDR&D) R&D Unit leads the project.

Under a newly signed contract, Elbit Systems will provide the Israeli Ministry of Defense with its high-powered laser solution as well as ongoing support...

Gooch & Housego (G&H) has acquired Phoenix Optical Technologies, a manufacturer of precision optics technology based in St. Asaph, Wales. The acquisition, valued at up to £6.75 million (~$8.8 million), strengthens G&H’s position in aerospace and defense while expanding its presence in U.K. and European markets as a supplier to defense primes.

Phoenix Optical Technologies brings complementary expertise in precision optics processes, including prisms, domes, specialist machining and single point diamond turning. The company additionally offers onsite capabilities for the molding and annealing of glass, and its capabilities are expected to bolster the offerings of G&H’s Optical Systems division. The...

Vitrealab, a developer of display technology for VR and AR, has appointed Ronny Timmreck CEO. Timmreck currently serves as chairman of Sixonia Tech GmbH’s board and has prior leadership experience as CEO of companies including Bahama Invest & Consult, leXsolar GmbH, deepXscan, and Senorics.

(From left) Vitrealab CTO Jonas Zeuner, Ronny Timmreck, and chief research officer Chiara Greganti. Courtesy of vitrealab. CAMBRIDGE, England — Quantum entanglement startup Nu Quantum has added Roland Acra to its advisory board. Acra’s career spans over three decades of technology and innovation leadership, mainly focusing on networking and data center technology. He previously served as chief business officer for PsiQuantum...

Samsung Display has developed a quantum dot (QD) ink recycling technology that the company said greatly increases the efficiency of the manufacturing process for its QD-OLED displays. The technology collects and recycles QD ink that would otherwise be wasted during the QD-OLED manufacturing process. The company has shown the process to be able to recover and reprocess 80% of the ink that went unused in the production of the QD emissive layer. Samsung anticipates annual cost savings of over KRW 10 billion ($7.2 million).
Researchers from Samsung Display analyze the optical properties of quantum dot (QD) ink. Courtesy of Samsung Display. The QD light-emitting layer, the key structure of QD-OLED displays, is formed using an inkjet printing...

IPG Photonics has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Clean-Lasersysteme GmbH (cleanLASER), a developer of laser cleaning systems. The transaction is expected to close later this year.

Based in Herzogenrath, Germany, cleanLASER serves a broad range of customers across the automotive, industrial, aerospace, medical, and food markets, among others, offering process-safe laser technology for the cleaning and processing of industrial surfaces. The company, founded in 1997, generates approximately $30 million in annual revenue.

“As a supplier to cleanLASER for nearly 25 years, we know this company well and believe our combined cleaning application know-how, complementary market exposure, and product and technology synergies...

Depth sensing plays a crucial role in various applications, including robotics, augmented reality, and autonomous driving. Monocular passive depth sensing techniques are valued for their cost-effectiveness and compact design which offers an alternative to the expensive and bulky active depth sensors and stereo vision systems. While light-field cameras can address the defocus ambiguity inherent in 2D cameras and achieve unambiguous depth perception, they compromise the spatial resolution and often struggle with the effect of optical aberration.

Researchers led by Hui Qiao of the Institute for Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Department of Automation at Tsinghua University have presented a compact meta-imaging camera and an analytical...

Quantum computers promise the ability to solve complex problems in seconds that would take decades for modern supercomputers. While the goal is clear, the path to achieve it remains unclear due to the quantity of potential approaches to realize it. Each one has specific advantages and disadvantages when it comes to hardware and software, ranging from reliability and energy consumption to compatibility with conventional systems.

Under the coordination of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF, a consortium of 28 partners is working on the project "SPINNING — Diamond spin-photon-based quantum computer" to develop a quantum computer based on spin photons and diamond. This should be characterized by lower...

Dementia is difficult to diagnose during the initial stages of the disease. Using current testing methods, it can take over two years for patients to receive a diagnosis. Many patients are not diagnosed until the disease has progressed to a point where treatment options are less likely to be effective. The type of treatment that is most appropriate for a patient depends on the type of dementia the patient has, but distinguishing between closely related dementia types can be challenging.

Researchers at the University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton are developing a laser-based test to rapidly detect dementia. If the test is successful, it will help doctors quickly diagnose the condition and specific form of...

A University of Michigan-led team demonstrated an ultrafast, all-optical switch by pulsing circularly polarized light through an optical cavity lined with tungsten diselenide (WSe2), an ultrathin semiconductor.

The device could function as a standard optical switch or could serve as an exclusive OR (XOR) switch, a type of logic gate that produces an output signal when one input signal rotates clockwise and the other input signal rotates counterclockwise.

An all-optical switch would use light to control optical signals without the need for electrical conversion, saving time and energy in fiber optic communications.

“Because a switch is the most elementary building block of any information processing unit, an...