CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Nov. 11 -- The Southern Hemisphere's largest single optical telescope -- powerful enough to detect objects as faint as a candle flame on the moon -- was officially inaugurated in a ceremony yesterday attended by approximately 1000 people, including South African President Thabo Mbeki. The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) took five years to build at a cost of $20 million. The Southern African Large Telescope, the Southern Hemisphere's largest telescope, as it neared the end of construction earlier this year. (Photo: SALT) Although similar to the Hobby-Eberly...Read full articleRelated content from Photonics MediaArticlesIndustrial Photocatalyst Harnesses the Visible SpectrumPhotocatalysts show the potential to be used in energy generation and environmental detoxification applications. This is an intriguing quality, since reducing energy use in bulk industrial processes...Photonics.com 9/4/2023Eichenholz Inducted to NAI; Q-CTRL Adds Engineering Head: People in the News: 12/20/23Luminar Technologies cofounder and CTO Jason Eichenholz will be inducted into the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Eichenholz has 83 U.S. patents, pertaining to technologies including lidar,...Photonics.com 12/20/2023Ifm Takes Over CMS AutomatisierungstechnikIfm, a manufacturer of sensors and controls for industrial automation, has acquired CMS Automatisierungstechnik (CMS Automation Technology GmbH), a software developer based in Austria. The combined...Vision Spectra Summer 2023 IssueCEA Develops Lensless Microbial Identification TechnologyCEA-Leti and CEA-Irig have developed a lensless imaging technology capable of identifying bacteria with more than 95% accuracy. The device aims to address the problem of antimicrobial resistance,...BioPhotonics Jul/Aug 2022 IssueProductsMacro LensesThe MC3M series from Opto Engineering are macro lenses made to fit sensors up to 1.1 in. Designed to capture images of small objects with high resolution, the series experiences almost no distortion...Vision-Spectra.com January 2024 IssueMemory Protection UnitThe single-core SAMA7G54 Arm Cortex A7-based memory protection unit (MPU) from Microchip Technology Inc. runs up to 1 GHz. The device features a MIPI CSI-2 camera interface and a traditional...Photonics.com 6/15/2022Optical Sensing InterrogatorsFemto Sensing International has expanded its SX line of optical sensing interrogators for high-sensor-count fiber Bragg grating (FBG) applications. Designed for industrial, medical, civil,...Photonics.com 12/12/2022Gimbal MountsOptimal Engineering Systems’ AU270-YPR Three Axis (Yaw, angular Pitch, and Roll) Gimbal Mounts are designed for larger and heavier cameras, telescopes, directional antennas, optics, lasers,...Photonics.com 7/5/2023Photonics Handbook ArticlesOTDRs: Finding the Weak Spots in Fiber LinksAn optical time-domain reflectometer sends short pulses of light into a fiber and measures its reflections as a function of time. The delay of these reflections to the detector as well as their...Photonics HandbookCO2 Lasers: The Industrial WorkhorseIn the three decades since its introduction, the CO2 laser has become the workhorse of industrial lasers. Today it is available in a range of designs and sizes with output powers of 20 kW and more....Photonics HandbookPolarization Mode Dispersion: Concepts and MeasurementThere are three fundamentally different dispersive phenomena in optical fiber, of which polarization mode dispersion (PMD) is the most complex. In digital multimode fiber systems, a light pulse...Photonics HandbookConnectors and Splices: Correct Alignment Spells SuccessJust as an electronic connector provides a pluggable connection between electronic circuits, a fiber optic connector provides an optical one. The goal is joining a fiber to a transmitter, receiver or...Photonics HandbookWhite PapersImage Slicer for SPIFFIThe Image Slicer is used to slice the image into 32 identical elements and the subsequent arrangement of these into a a pseudo-long image chain. The aim was to undercut the challenging specifications...Photonics.com 2/27/2024Sapphire PropertiesMechanical, Optical, Thermal properties of single crystal SapphirePhotonics.com 6/22/2022Plano Optics - Complex Components and AssembliesWe offer custom prisms, polygons, windows, mirrors, and wedges from one source. FISBA not only has the complete production chain in-house, we can also develop entire systems built-to-spec or support...Photonics.com 12/2/2022Advanced SWIR Spectroscopy for Next-Generation Fabric IdentificationThis white paper, titled "Advanced SWIR Spectroscopy for Next-Generation Fabric Identification," addresses the challenges in textile sorting, especially in the context of recycling non-biodegradable...Photonics.com 12/5/2023WebinarsSupporting Advanced Nuclear Reactor Development with LIBSLaser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) offers a great degree of flexibility in applications because it can be performed remotely through fiber optics and monitor nearly the entire periodic...Photonics.com 4/19/2023A Technical Exploration of Spatial Light Modulators and Their Latest 3D ApplicationsLASER COMPONENTS brings together some of the brightest minds in the industry for a one-hour workshop. Doctoral students from MIT, Princeton University, and Stanford University share how they are...Photonics.com 9/29/2022A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Creating Quality Parts Using Laser WeldingLaser welding has developed into one of the most used joining techniques in sheet metals for applications such as car bodies, medical devices, sensors, batteries, and more. To create successful welds...Photonics.com 10/31/2023Recent Advancements in Structured-Light LasersStructured light provides the ability to tailor light within all of its degrees of freedom, including amplitude, phase, and polarization. There are many approaches to tailoring light, from using...Photonics.com 4/6/2023Photonics Dictionary Termsinfrared spectrophotometerA spectrophotometer having a prism or, more frequently, a grating for the study and recording of infrared spectra. It usually consists of a radiation source such as a Nernst glower, a monochromator,...Photonics DictionarycrystalA solid with a structure that exhibits a basically symmetrical and geometrical arrangement. A crystal may already possess this structure, or it may acquire it through mechanical means. More than 50...Photonics DictionaryhydrophilicHydrophilic is a term used to describe substances or materials that have an affinity for water. The word hydrophilic comes from the Greek words "hydro," meaning water, and "philos," meaning loving or...Photonics Dictionaryinfrared optical materialThe range of materials that, unlike glass, may be used in the infrared. Water-soluble salts, such as cesium iodide, and other substances such as arsenic sulfide, selenium, thallium bromide-iodide and...Photonics DictionaryMediaThermal cameras join hunt for poachers - LIGHT MATTERS 12.2016Illegal hunting of animals in Africa has, for decades, threatened the existence of a number of species, from elephants and tortoises, to gorillas and tigers. Work by organizations such as the World...Photonics.com 12/29/2016Brand Refresh -- New Image, Company Name, Website, and Email Address - DayOpticsTo celebrate this milestone, we've created a video showcasing the journey to the new design. We invite everyone to #joinus and watch the video now! The new DayOptics image is a testament to our...Photonics.com 8/14/2023PIC Fundamentals, Design at Heart of AIM Photonics Summer AcademyStudents from large and small size companies and bigger Department of Defense affiliates of the AIM Photonics Institute took part in the recent AIM Photonics Summer Academy at MIT. This was the third...Photonics.com 7/30/2018Light Matters Extra: Weird and Strange: Quantum Photonics - 03.2018In this month's Light Matters Extra, we take you to the Quantum Photonics Laboratory at MIT run by Dr. Dirk Englund. Dr. Englund's group, the Quantum Photonics Group, is made up of postdocs and...Photonics.com 3/29/2018Photonics Buyers' Guide CategoriesScintillation DetectorsPhotographic FilmsX-Ray MirrorsOptical Character Recognition Imaging SystemsCompaniesLaCroix Precision OpticsThe LaCroix name is synonymous with quality precision optics. Since 1947, three generations of family leadership have guided LaCroix Precision Optics to become the premier precision optics...Photonics Buyers' GuideInfrared Materials Inc.Photonics Buyers' GuideExcelitas Technologies Corp.Excelitas Technologies® Corp. is a leading industrial technology manufacturer focused on delivering innovative, market-driven photonic solutions to meet the illumination, optical, optronic,...Photonics Buyers' GuideOhara CorporationOHARA manufactures more than 130 environmentally safe optical glass types, free of both lead and arsenic. More than 300 tons of optical glass are melted per month, available in the following forms of...Photonics Buyers' Guide