Guiding Light Revealed
Jul. 31, 2009
Using a composite metamaterial to deliver a complex set of instructions to a beam of light, Boston College physicists have created a device to guide electromagnetic waves around objects such as the corner of a building or the profile of the eastern seaboard.
Diffract-and-Destroy Imaging
Jul. 30, 2009
A particle gun that fires liquid droplets less than a millionth of a meter in diameter, faster than hundreds of thousands of times a second, is poised to revolutionize biological imaging. Tested at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source and soon to be installed at SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source, the sample jet injects a beam of droplets across a tightly focused x-ray beam in single file, each droplet so small it contains only a single protein or virus. Among the promises of superbright, ultrafast x-ray pulses is the ability to solve the structure of the complicated molecules from which our bodies are made. All living things are made of proteins and nucleic acids, but relatively few of the atomic structures of the thousands, perhaps millions, of varieties of proteins are known.
Viable Organic PV Realized
Jul. 30, 2009
A new class of economically viable solar power cells – cheap, flexible and easy to make – has come a step closer to reality as a result of recent work at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where scientists have deepened their understanding of the complex organic films at the heart of the devices.
QD Core Given Gold Shell
Jul. 28, 2009
Nanoparticles have been developed to perform a wide range of medical uses, from imaging tumors to carrying drugs to delivering pulses of heat to destroy tumor cells. But rather than settling for just one of these, researchers at the University of Washington worked to combine two nanoparticles – a quantum dot (QD) core and an ultrathin gold shell – in one tiny package. "This is the first time that a semiconductor and metal nanoparticles have been combined in a way that preserves the function of each individual component," said Xiaohu Gao, a UW assistant professor of bioengineering.
Eye-Catching Vision Discovery
Jul. 28, 2009
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine discovered in fish yet another type of cell that can sense light and contribute to vision.
Nanolaser Size Limit Broken
Jul. 28, 2009
An international research collaboration is reporting advances in breaking previous limitations on how small lasers can be made. The work opens up possibilities for using nanoscale lasers to significantly improve optical communications, single molecule detection and medical imaging.
Agilent Buys Varian for $1.5B
Jul. 27, 2009
In a move designed to bolster its transformation into a bioanalytical measurement company, Agilent Technologies said it will buy medical device maker Varian of Palo Alto, Calif., for $1.5 billion in cash.
Beetle Bares Photonic Secrets
Jul. 24, 2009
In discovering how the jeweled beetle, Chrysina gloriosa, creates its striking colors using a unique helical structure that reflects the light of two specific colors but of only one polarization, researchers may have unlocked photonic secrets with applications in optics and LCDs.
Twinkle, Twinkle Lil' Diamond
Jul. 24, 2009
Fluorescent nanodiamonds are useful little particles, providing an unblinking glow that resists photobleaching. They are biologically inert, lending themselves to a range of medical applications. But what are they, really?
Nanoscale Mass Spectrometer
Jul. 23, 2009
Using devices millionths of a meter in size, physicists at the California Institute of Technology developed a technique to determine the mass of a single molecule in real time.
Cell Interactions Revealed
Jul. 23, 2009
New findings that suggest putting lipids and other cell membrane components on manufactured surfaces to control like-charge attraction could lead to new classes of self-assembling materials for use in precision optics, nanotechnology, electronics and pharmaceuticals.
Stimulus Funds Rice Facility
Jul. 22, 2009
Rice University physics researchers will no longer have to wait until the dead of night to conduct experiments with instruments highly sensitive to vibration, thanks to $11.1 million in federal stimulus funding from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Cell Phone Fluoromicroscopy
Jul. 22, 2009
In what is being seen as a major step forward in taking clinical microscopy out of specialized labs and into the field, UC Berkeley researchers developed the CellScope, a cell phone turned into a fluorescent microscope.
Materials Mimic Mechanics
Jul. 21, 2009
Astronomical phenomena such as black holes could be studied in a tabletop laboratory setting if the nascent field of artificial optical materials is combined with celestial mechanics, researchers say. “We have introduced a new class of specially designed optical media that can mimic the periodic, quasiperiodic and chaotic motions observed in celestial objects that have been subjected to complex gravitational fields,” said University of California, Berkeley, professor Xiang Zhang, a faculty scientist with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
'Drops' of Gold Burn Tumors
Jul. 21, 2009
French researcher Romain Quidant proposes applying laser light to gold nanoparticles inserted into tumor cells, heating the particles to such a degree that the damaged cells would be completely burnt.
Storing Sunlight for Soldiers
Jul. 21, 2009
New technologies for capturing sunlight and storing it as energy in flexible and wearable solar cells are being pursued by the Air Force Research Laboratory to help soldiers on the ground and those operating unmanned aerial vehicles.
E-paper Device Maker Folds
Jul. 20, 2009
Polymer Vision, maker of the rollable e-paper display Readius, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and shuttered its UK offices, putting 50 people out of work, according to media reports.
Fine-tuning Ultracold Atoms
Jul. 20, 2009
Scientists at MIT devised how to relay the successful storage of light in a form of quantum memory based on a cold-atom gas, while scientists in Brazil reported the controllable formation of quantum turbulence in an ultracold atom gas.
Electronic Metamaterial Made
Jul. 17, 2009
Physicists and chemists in Switzerland defied the belief that electrical resistance of a material can't be adjusted by developing thin films with controllable electronic properties. The discovery could have a big impact on future applications in sensors and computing.
OLED Efficiency Improved
Jul. 17, 2009
A research team at KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) has discovered...
Intersolar Show Size Triples
Jul. 17, 2009
Today's show is brought to you by the numbers two and three. The Intersolar show just held here...
Optics Innovator Hopkins Dies
Jul. 16, 2009
Robert E. Hopkins, widely characterized as the “father of optical engineering” and recognized as an...
Semicon: Some Good News
Jul. 16, 2009
In one of the booths at this year's Semicon West, the assets of Germany-based bankrupt...
QPC Laser Sales Expanded
Jul. 15, 2009
Germany-based AMS Technologies and Laser Operations LLC of Sylmar, Calif., have expanded their distribution agreement for the high-brightness product line of QPC Lasers to include the UK/Ireland, France and Spain.
RMI Files for Bankruptcy
Jul. 14, 2009
Optical components maker Rocky Mountain Instrument Co. (RMI) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing the recession and a 2007 federal raid on the business as the contributing factors.
Herschel Images Bright Future
Jul. 14, 2009
The European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory carried out the first test observations with all its instruments, finding water and carbon and revealing dozens of distant galaxies, the space agency said.
Repulsive Light Force Rules
Jul. 13, 2009
Yale University researchers who had previously discovered an attractive force of light and showed how it could be manipulated to move components in semiconducting micro- and nanoelectrical systems have now discovered a complementary repulsive force, giving them the ability to push and pull components on silicon chips. To create the repulsive force, the team split a beam of infrared light into two separate beams and forced each one to travel a different length of a silicon nanowire waveguide.
PECASE Funds Photonics Work
Jul. 13, 2009
Scientists and engineers focused on photonics-related work were among the 100 named by President Barack Obama as recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the US government on young professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.
JDSU Buying Finisar's Tools
Jul. 9, 2009
In a move expected to expand its lab test market presence, JDSU announced it will acquire the Network Tools business of fiber optics subsystems provider Finisar Corp. for $40.6 million in cash before the end of July.
Invisible with Visible Light
Jul. 8, 2009
A device, called a dc metamaterial, has been theorized by a group of researchers at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Acting as a kind of invisibility cloak, it can make objects invisible under certain light by making the inside of the magnetic field zero, but not altering the exterior field.
Polarized Light Rules Qubits
Jul. 7, 2009
One of the great challenges in creating a working quantum computer is maintaining control over the carriers of information, the ‘switches’ in a quantum processor, while isolating them from the environment. Physicists at NIST have now devised a viable way to manipulate a single ‘bit’ in a quantum processor without disturbing the information stored in its neighbors. The approach uses polarized light to create effective magnetic fields, which could bring the long-sought computers a step closer to reality. Quantum bits (qubits) have the uncanny ability to exist in both ‘on’ and ‘off’ positions simultaneously, giving quantum computers the power to solve problems conventional computers find intractable – such as breaking complex cryptographic codes.
Oclaro, Newport Finalize Deal
Jul. 6, 2009
Under the agreement Newport has acquired the New Focus business of Oclaro’s Advanced Photonics Solutions division in exchange for the Newport Spectra Physics high power laser diodes business in Tucson, Ariz.
Ion Trap Senses Force, Light
Jul. 6, 2009
Miniature devices for trapping ions are common components in atomic clocks and quantum computing research. Now, a novel ion trap geometry demonstrated at NIST holds promise as a stylus for sensing very small forces and light particles for quantum communications.
NIH Review Changes Outlined
Jul. 2, 2009
NIH’s James Bjork outlined upcoming changes to the institute’s peer-review process, which he said is essentially to "fund the best science, by the best scientists, with the least amount of administrative burden."
Toptica Buys Till Photonics
Jul. 2, 2009
A German consortium led by Toptica Photonics AG of Munich has acquired bioimaging specialist Till Photonics GmbH from Agilent Technologies. The transaction concluded June 30; financial terms were not disclosed.
Nanosensors Spy Drug Uptake
Jul. 1, 2009
The recent discovery of fluorescent silicon nanoparticles may ultimately help track the uptake of drugs by the body’s cells, according to researchers at the University of Leicester.
Light Made Audible
Jul. 1, 2009
Using a process that makes light audible, bioengineers in Germany developed a technique that allows 3-D optical and fluorescence imaging of tissue to a depth of several centimeters, allowing whole-body visualization of adult zebra fish.
Laser Show Bolsters Industry
Jul. 1, 2009
While overall attendance at Laser World of Photonics 2009 was down about 10 percent from 2007, the number of exhibitors, quality of contacts made, and innovations shown on the show floor had attendees feeling optimistic.
Newport Relocating Lasers HQ
Jul. 1, 2009
Newport Corp. will relocate and consolidate its Spectra-Physics Lasers Div. headquarters from its five-building campus in Mountain View, Calif., to a single new facility in Santa Clara, Calif., that will also integrate its latest acquisition, the New Focus business from Oclaro Inc.