Photonics Spectra: Optics This is the syndication feed for Photonics Spectra: Optics. https://www.photonics.com/Splash.aspx?Tag=Optics Thu, 28 Mar 2024 21:26:08 GMT Thu, 28 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT 1800 Whole-Brain Big Data Processing Enables VR via Optogenetic Control
Inspired by the data processing techniques used in astronomy, researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences developed a big data processing system for neuronal activity. Known as the FX system, it operates in real-time to analyze large-scale, whole-brain neuron activity and facilitate the closed-loop study of brain functions. In addition to supporting closed-loop neuroscience research, the FX system enables whole-brain, optical interface-mediated virtual...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Whole-Brain_Big_Data_Processing_Enables_VR_via/p5/a69848 A69848 Thu, 28 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT
Coherent Establishes InP Fabs; OpenLight Formalizes VLC Partnership: OFC News Roundup
Coherent established capability for 6-inch indium phosphide (InP) wafer fabrication in the company’s Sherman, Texas, and Järfälla, Sweden, wafer fabs. Coherent is in the process of qualifying several existing products on its 6-inch InP platform. The company expects to transition the bulk of its production from 3-inch InP to 6-inch InP in the next few years to leverage the benefits of larger wafer size, higher yield, and improved performance that will be required to provide a sustainable competitive advantage in its communications and sensing markets.
Coherent established the world’s first capability for 6-inch indium phosphide (InP) wafer fabrication. Its expanded capacity significantly reduces die cost for InP...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Coherent_Establishes_InP_Fabs_OpenLight/p5/a69845 A69845 Wed, 27 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT
PhotonDelta and MIT Update Roadmap for Integrated Photonics Progress
An updated roadmap developed by PhotonDelta and MIT’s Microphotonics Center envelopes insights from more than 400 organizations to provide a clear path forward for the global integrated photonics industry. The roadmap was launched today during the Executive Forum at OFC 2024.

Produced over the last three years, the second edition of the Integrated Photonics System Roadmap – International (IPSR-I) identifies key technology gaps for volume manufacturing of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and provides a detailed analysis of the challenges that the industry needs to address, including insights into wireless communication and 3D imaging.

The document is segmented into 13 parts, spanning silicon photonics,...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/PhotonDelta_and_MIT_Update_Roadmap_for_Integrated/p5/a69843 A69843 Tue, 26 Mar 2024 13:12:37 GMT
Traceable Standards Could Speed Development of Quantum Technologies
Devices that capture light from quantum dots, like chip-scale lasers and optical amplifiers, have made their way from the lab to the commercial market. The transition for newer quantum dot-based devices has been slower due to the extreme level of accuracy needed in the alignment of the individual dots and the optics that extract and guide the emitted radiation.

When localization microscopy of quantum emitters is used to guide lithographic placement of photonic structures, microscopy and lithography measurement errors can easily occur. These errors degrade registration accuracy, limiting device performance and process yield.

To address this bottleneck, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Traceable_Standards_Could_Speed_Development_of/p5/a69840 A69840 Tue, 26 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT
AI and Laser Tech Automate Rapid Sorting and Analysis of Live Cells
To realize the potential of personalized medicine and overcome crisis situations like the recent pandemic, labs need an efficient way to isolate living cells for analysis and testing. The ability to isolate specific cell types without impairing cell vitality is also necessary to advance pharmaceutical research.

In response to this need, the Fraunhofer Institutes of Laser Technology (ILT) and Production Technology (IPT) developed an AI-assisted tool that automatically sorts and isolates living cells from samples using a high-throughput process. The technology, called LIFTOSCOPE, combines high-speed microscopy, AI-based analysis, and localization of living cells and cell clusters with laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT).
The MIR...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/AI_and_Laser_Tech_Automate_Rapid_Sorting_and/p5/a69836 A69836 Mon, 25 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT
OpenLight Partners with Jabil on AI, ML Datacenter Optics
Founded in 2022, OpenLight provides an open silicon photonics platform with integrated lasers which utilizes an indium phosphide-based modulator. OpenLight has additional partnerships with Spark Photonics, and its process design kit is available with Tower Semiconductor. The company is a joint venture of Synopsys and Juniper Networks.]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/OpenLight_Partners_with_Jabil_on_AI_ML/p5/a69835 A69835 Fri, 22 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT
Ultrablack Coatings Achieve Broadband Absorption for Precision Optics
A broadband, ultrablack film from the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences could enhance the performance of telescopes and have other applications in space exploration and precision optics. In tests, the film achieved an average absorption as high as 99.4%, within a wavelength range of 400 to 1000 nm.

Optical devices that require ultrablack coating for stray light suppression often exhibit significant curvature and intricate shapes, which pose challenges for existing approaches to film preparation. In space exploration applications, payload is a critical factor, and black films that can be coated to lightweight materials are essential. The coating also needs to be robust enough...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Ultrablack_Coatings_Achieve_Broadband_Absorption/p5/a69831 A69831 Thu, 21 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT
EFFECT Photonics Boosted by $38M Series D
EFFECT has formalized industry collaborations with partners including Jabil Photonics, Credo, and Fabrinet. The series D round was led by Innovation Industries Strategic Partners Fund and backed by Dutch pension funds PMT and PME,...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/EFFECT_Photonics_Boosted_by_38M_Series_D/p5/a69830 A69830 Wed, 20 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT
G&H Sells Boston Optoelectronics Operation
Precision optical technology manufacturer G&H has sold its Boston-based EM4 optoelectronics subsidiary to EMFOUR Acquisition Co. LLC, a subsidiary of an unnamed U.S.-based global technology company, in a deal worth up to $12 million.

EM4, which G&H acquired in 2010, is a provider of optoelectronic components and laser modules primarily for the U.S. aerospace and defense market. Previously the business manufactured and supplied fused fiber couplers, though this product line has been excluded from the sale and transferred to G&H’s Torquay, England facility.
G&H has sold its Boston-based EM4 optoelectronics subsidiary in a deal worth up to $12 million. Courtesy of G&H. The unspecified buyer will pay an...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/GH_Sells_Boston_Optoelectronics_Operation/p5/a69824 A69824 Wed, 20 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT
Polar Light Appoints CEO; LightPath Adds Vice President of Sales: People in the News: 3/20/24
MicroLED technology developer Polar Light Technologies has named Oskar Fajerson as CEO. Fajerson has a background in product management, sales, and marketing and a degree in material physics from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. He has held senior positions at a wide range of high-tech companies during their growth phases, including eye-tracking company Tobii.

Oskar Fajerson. Courtesy of Polar Light Technologies. ORLANDO, Fla. — LightPath Technologies, a manufacturer and integrator of optical and infrared technologies, has named Jason Messerschmidt as vice president of sales. Messerschmidt joined LightPath Technologies from FLIR Systems, most recently serving as senior director of sales for US Industrial...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Polar_Light_Appoints_CEO_LightPath_Adds_Vice/p5/a69826 A69826 Wed, 20 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT
Photonics-Based Oscillator Provides Precise Signals on Compact Chip
Many technologies — from communications, to radar and sensing, to positioning and navigation — rely on low-noise microwave signals for precise timing and synchronization. Advances in these technologies intensify the demand for stable, low-phase noise microwave sources.

Although photonic lightwave systems provide advantages over conventional electronic approaches for generating low-noise microwaves, the large size and power consumption of photonic systems restrict their use to laboratory environments.

Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, the University of...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Photonics-Based_Oscillator_Provides_Precise/p5/a69821 A69821 Mon, 18 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT
Quintessent Closes $11.5M Seed Round
Quintessent seeks to address infrastructure bottlenecks for data centers and computing technologies by implementing advanced materials, device/circuit design, and link architecture in order to reduce power consumption and required component count. The company previously formalized a collaboration with Tower Semiconductor...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Quintessent_Closes_115M_Seed_Round/p5/a69820 A69820 Mon, 18 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT
Multicolor Photochromic Fibers Deliver Interactive Wearable Displays
Fiber, as a wearable material, offers breathability, flexibility, and resistance to wear, making it an ideal substrate for wearable devices. Using mature textile technology, color-changing fibers can be integrated into clothing to serve as an interface between humans and computers. The use of light-emitting, color-changing fiber as an interface for communications, navigation, healthcare, and Internet of Things is expected to grow.

Inspired by photochromic fibers that exhibit fluorescence effects and polymer optical fibers that emit light when coupled with an external source, scientists from Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Nanjing University created a multicolored, uniformly luminescent, photochromic fiber. They...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Multicolor_Photochromic_Fibers_Deliver/p5/a69817 A69817 Fri, 15 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT
Light-Beads Microscopy Reveals New Information About Brain Activity
Mammalian brains are known to be comprised of densely interconnected neurons, but a remaining mystery in neuroscience is how tools which capture relatively few components of brain activity have enabled scientists to predict behavior in mice.

To better capture and understand neural activity in mice, professor Alipasha Vaziri and his team at The Rockefeller University used large-scale recordings and light-beads microscopy (LBM), a volumetric, two-photon imaging technique developed by the Vaziri lab in 2021. LBM increases imaging speed by eliminating the “dead-time” between sequential laser pulses, when no neuroactivity is recorded, and by removing the need for scanning.

LBM breaks one laser pulse into 30 sub-pulses...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Light-Beads_Microscopy_Reveals_New_Information/p5/a69813 A69813 Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT
Optica Names 20 Recipients for 2024 Awards, Medals
“Congratulations to the 2024 Optica award and medal recipients, whose leadership, vision, and extraordinary contributions are advancing our field to new heights,” said Gerd Leuchs, Optica's 2024 President.

For a complete list of the winners, visit www.optica.org/about/newsroom/news_releases/2024/march/optica_names_20_recipients_of_2024_awards_and_medals/.]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Optica_Names_20_Recipients_for_2024_Awards_Medals/p5/a69801 A69801 Tue, 12 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT
Liquid Crystals Control Polarization in Laser-Written Waveguides
Researchers in Germany have developed a way to control and manipulate optical signals by embedding a liquid crystal layer into waveguides created with direct laser writing. The work could lead to devices that enable electro-optical control of polarization. Such devices could open possibilities for chip-based devices and complex photonic circuits based on femtosecond-written waveguides.

According to Alessandro Alberucci, researcher from Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, the advance could be beneficial for other data-intensive applications in and beyond the data center. Alberucci added that the technology could also find application in the experimental realization of dense optical neural networks.

Liquid crystal-enabled...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Liquid_Crystals_Control_Polarization_in/p5/a69800 A69800 Mon, 11 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT
Researchers Develop AI-Enabled Liquid Holographic Camera
Holography technology can restore the complete light field information of the recorded object, which has important applications in fields like biological microscopic imaging and optical micromanipulation. One important frontier in holography is the reconstruction of realistic 3D scenes. However, the development and application of holographic technology have been hindered by the huge amount of data of the 3D scenes and the laser coherence, which leads to the slow capturing speed of the real 3D scenes and the serious speckle noise of the holographic reproduced image.

A team of researchers has collaborated to develop a holographic camera based on liquid lens technology, capable of recording high-quality holograms of real 3D scenes in a...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Researchers_Develop_AI-Enabled_Liquid_Holographic/p5/a69798 A69798 Fri, 08 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT
VIAVI Solutions Agrees to Takeover of Spirent Communications in $1.3B Deal
The acquisition is expected to close during the second half of 2024.

Spirent is a provider of products, services, and managed solutions for test assurance and automation of technologies including 5G, software-defined wide area networks, cloud, and autonomous vehicles. The company’s international...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/VIAVI_Solutions_Agrees_to_Takeover_of_Spirent/p5/a69796 A69796 Thu, 07 Mar 2024 15:30:12 GMT
All-Optical Network Bridges Space, Air, Underwater Environments
Researchers have developed an all-light communication network that enables seamless connectivity across space, air and underwater environments. The new network design combines different types of light sources to ensure connectivity across environments.

“In today’s world, data transmission is critical for communication, navigation, emergency response, research and commercial activities,” said research team leader Yongjin Wang from Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications and Suzhou Lighting Chip Monolithic Optoelectronics Technology Co. Ltd. “This new wireless network enables uninterrupted connectivity across environments, facilitating two-way real-time data transmission between the network nodes that...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/All-Optical_Network_Bridges_Space_Air/p5/a69787 A69787 Thu, 07 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT
Polymer-Coated Metasurface Could Enable Sensors, Networking
A material coating, whose light refraction properties can be precisely switched between different states, has been developed by an interdisciplinary research team from the Chemistry and Physics departments at the University of Jena. The team, led by professors Felix Schacher and Isabelle Staude, combined light-reactive polymers with metasurfaces. The work has led to the creation of new optical components that could see use in signal processing.

As light hits this photo-tunable polymer metasurface, properties like its refractive index are changed, depending on the incident light’s wavelength. Courtesy of Jens Meyer/University of Jena. Optical metasurfaces are nanostructured thin layers whose characteristic structural sizes are...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Polymer-Coated_Metasurface_Could_Enable_Sensors/p5/a69786 A69786 Thu, 07 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT