Photonics Spectra: interferometry This is the syndication feed for Photonics Spectra: interferometry. https://www.photonics.com/Splash.aspx?Tag=interferometry Tue, 19 Mar 2024 02:40:38 GMT Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT 1800 Tokamak Energy Commits to Testing Laser Tech for Fusion Power Plants
Fusion energy technology developer Tokamak Energy is working on laser measurement technology crucial to controlling the extreme conditions inside future fusion power plants. The company is testing a laser-based dispersion interferometer system at its Oxford, England, headquarters and expects install the system on its ST40 fusion machine later this year.

Tokamak Energy’s approach to fusion employs a tokamak, a device that uses a magnetic field to confine and control a plasma. The device features a spherical design, pioneered by company co-founder Alan Sykes in the 1980s, that is designed to improve efficiency, plasma stability, and cost-effectiveness.
Tokamak Energy is testing a laser-based dispersion interferometer system to...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Tokamak_Energy_Commits_to_Testing_Laser_Tech_for/p5/a69812 A69812 Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT
AEgIS Cools Positronium with Lasers, Enabling New Antimatter Studies
Researchers at CERN’s Antimatter Factory working on the Antihydrogen Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy (AEgIS) have cooled positronium with laser light for the first time. According to the researchers, the achievement could mark the first step towards a matter-antimatter system that emits laser-like gamma-ray light.

AEgIS is one of several experiments at CERN’s Antimatter Factory producing and studying antihydrogen atoms with the goal of testing with high precision whether antimatter and matter fall to Earth in the same way.

The experiment, the researchers said, paves the way for a whole new set of antimatter studies, including the prospect to produce a gamma-ray laser that would allow researchers to...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/AEgIS_Cools_Positronium_with_Lasers_Enabling_New/p5/a69762 A69762 Mon, 26 Feb 2024 07:00:00 GMT
NASA to Support ESA's Efforts on Gravitation Wave Observatory
NASA will collaborate with the European Space Agency (ESA) on a space-based observatory designed to detect gravitational waves. The ESA formally adopted the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) to its mission lineup, with launch slated for 2035.

The construction of the instruments and spacecraft will begin in 2025 once a European industrial contractor has been selected, the ESA said.

Gravitational waves were first detected in 2015 by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) following the merger of two black holes. Along with other ground-based facilities, LIGO has since observed dozens of these mergers, as well as other gravitational-wave producing phenomena.
The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/NASA_to_Support_ESAs_Efforts_on_Gravitation_Wave/p5/a69696 A69696 Tue, 06 Feb 2024 07:00:00 GMT
Quantum-Inspired Method Reveals Details Hidden in Noise
Researchers at the University of Warsaw's Faculty of Physics with colleagues from Stanford University and Oklahoma State University have introduced a quantum-inspired phase-imaging method based on light intensity correlation measurements that is robust to phase noise.

The new imaging method can operate even with extremely dim illumination and can prove useful in emerging applications such as infrared and x-ray interferometric imaging and quantum and matter-wave interferometry.

Whether taken with a smartphone or an advanced microscope, photographs measure the intensity of light, pixel by pixel. Light is characterized not only by its intensity, but also its phase. Transparent objects can become visible if the phase delay of light...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Quantum-Inspired_Method_Reveals_Details_Hidden_in/p5/a69591 A69591 Tue, 02 Jan 2024 07:00:00 GMT
James Wyant, University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences Namesake, Dies at 80
James Wyant, the founding dean and namesake of the University of Arizona James C. Wyant College of Optical Sciences, died Dec. 8, the University of Arizona announced. Wyant was 80 years old.

Wyant’s research focused on applying interferometry to metrology problems in fields including data storage, semiconductors, optical fabrication, and biomedicine. Wyant served as a professor, dean, business leader, and philanthropist throughout his career, as well as president of both OSA (now Optica) and SPIE. As director of the University of Arizona’s Optical Science Center, Wyant oversaw the center’s transition to a college in 2005. In 2019, the University of Arizona renamed the college in Wyant’s honor.

...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/James_Wyant_University_of_Arizona_College_of/p5/a69526 A69526 Fri, 08 Dec 2023 14:56:53 GMT
New Technology Quantifies Optics’ Elusive Mid-Spatial Frequencies
New polishing technologies caused a significant shift in optical manufacturing during the start of the 21st century. Computer numerical control (CNC) and deterministic optical polishing/figuring techniques have taken center stage to transform how optics are produced. These advancements have enabled CNC machinists to craft aspherical and free-form optical surfaces, tasks that were impossible or demanded highly skilled artisans using traditional pitch polishing methods. However, this progress has come with a challenge: the introduction of mid-spatial frequency (MSF) surface errors (Figure 1).


Figure 1. An interferometric measurement of a transmissive flat optic with a diameter of 100 mm with a PVr < λ/50 and significant...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/New_Technology_Quantifies_Optics_Elusive/p5/a69428 A69428 Tue, 05 Dec 2023 08:46:00 GMT
Label-Free Imaging Shows Dynamics of Intracellular Cargo Transport
Until now, scientists have relied on fluorescence microscopy techniques to study intracellular cargo transport, a vital process to maintaining essential cellular functions. However, the effects of photobleaching and the visual isolation of cellular features from their environment limit the modality’s ability to glean information about the process and how it is conducted within the crowded cellular environment.

Researchers at the Institute for Basic Science Center for Molecular Spectroscopy and Dynamics (IBS CMSD), in collaboration with Korea University, developed a label-free, cargo-tracing microscopy technique to address these challenges. The Cargo-Localization Interferometric Scattering (CL-iSCAT) microscope enables...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Label-Free_Imaging_Shows_Dynamics_of/p5/a69485 A69485 Wed, 22 Nov 2023 07:00:00 GMT
Electro-Optic Modulators Improve Signal Quality and Cancel Noise
Delays in optical data transmission cause inconvenient lag times in communications and interfere with immersive experiences like gaming. Two factors that adversely affect the speed and reliability of optical communication are signal distortion over long distances and signal interference from noise. Optical modulators, which control certain properties of the light that carries the data, can contribute to transmission delays.

To address this issue, researchers at University of Central Florida, College of Optics and Photonics (UCF CREOL) and UCLA developed modulators that compare the amount and the timing of data moving through the system to ensure accurate, efficient transmission.
A 3D schematic of the four-phase electro-optic...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Electro-Optic_Modulators_Improve_Signal_Quality/p5/a69395 A69395 Thu, 12 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT
Microscopy Method Detects Treatment-Resistant Cancer
Therapy-induced senescent (TIS) cells are cancer cells that become resistant to therapies and enter a dormant stage. These cells can emerge from dormancy and induce tumor resistance and relapse. To provide insight into how TIS cells evolve, it is crucial to develop simple, reproducible methods to study the onset and progression of these cells in human cancer cell cultures.

An international team from Johns Hopkins University and Italy’s Politecnico di Milano, Fondazione Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, and Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche developed a noninvasive, multimodal imaging technique to allow early identification of TIS cells. The new technique could improve clinical outcomes by enabling more comprehensive research into...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Microscopy_Method_Detects_Treatment-Resistant/p5/a69380 A69380 Mon, 09 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT
Berthold Leibinger Awards Honor Laser Research at the Limits
In 2000, Berthold Leibinger, the man who brought laser technology into Germany’s TRUMPF Group, established the Innovation Award — expressed in native German as the “Innovationspreis” — to honor outstanding R&D in the field of laser technology. Next to this prestigious award, the Berthold Leibinger Zukunftspreis was added in 2006 to recognize scientists driving fundamental laser research to new heights.

Leibinger sadly passed away a few weeks after the Innovationspreis ceremony in 2018, but he had handed the company over to his children years before, along with the Berthold Leibinger Foundation and its associated awards.

At the 2023 ceremony, held on September 22 in Ditzingen, the Foundation...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Berthold_Leibinger_Awards_Honor_Laser_Research_at/p5/a69354 A69354 Sun, 01 Oct 2023 09:45:00 GMT
LITE Spectroscopy Resists Light Sources with Phase Demodulation
A team at Harbin Institute of Technology led by professor Yufei Ma introduced an approach to phase demodulation of heterodyne light-induced thermoelastic spectroscopy (H-LITES) that uses a Fabry-Pérot interferometer (FPI). Compared with traditional intensity demodulation systems, the new phase demodulation method is structurally simple and is resistant to interference from light sources and the surrounding environment when the LITES technique is used.
Diagram of the experimental setup. Pictured: continuous-wave distributed feedback (CW-DFB), fiber collimator (FC), photodetector (PD), quartz tuning fork (QTF), and single-mode fiber (SMF). Courtesy of Z. Lang et al.
LITES provides extremely high-sensitivity and noncontact...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/LITE_Spectroscopy_Resists_Light_Sources_with/p5/a69315 A69315 Tue, 12 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT
Mathematical Approach Deciphers Orbital Angular Momentum Information
Researchers from Sun Yat-sen University and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have made progress in the use of interferometry to decipher orbital angular momentum (OAM) spectrum information. Lightwaves with OAM have become important in technologies including communication, imaging, and quantum information processing. For these to be effective, it’s crucial to know the exact structure of these helical light beams.

So far, this has proven difficult. Interferometry — superimposing a light field with a known reference field to extract information from the interference — can retrieve OAM spectrum information using a camera. As the camera records the intensity of the interference, the...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Mathematical_Approach_Deciphers_Orbital_Angular/p5/a69239 A69239 Mon, 14 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT
Scientists Develop Nano-sized N-Slit Quantum Interferometers
Beyond signaling forthcoming advancements in practical instrumentation, Duarte said, the physics of the work indicates the theoretical limitlessness in improving the design precision of quantum interferometers, due to the availability of...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Scientists_Develop_Nano-sized_N-Slit_Quantum/p5/a69046 A69046 Mon, 29 May 2023 07:00:00 GMT
National Photonics Initiative Advocates Push for National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization: Week in Brief: 04/21/23
National Photonics Initiative (NPI) advocates met with lawmakers this week to discuss reauthorization of the National Quantum Initiative (NQI), which was originally signed into law in 2018. Representatives from Caltech, the Duke Quantum Center, Harvard, University of Maryland, University of Rochester, Northwestern, IBM, Intel, Infleqtion, IonQ, Google, MKS Instruments, Applied Energetics, SRI, TOPTICA USA, and NY Creates were among those who met with members of the House and Senate on committees including the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Per the original NQI Act, a second authorization is necessary to continue funding authorizations for the initiative...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/National_Photonics_Initiative_Advocates_Push_for/p5/a68947 A68947 Fri, 21 Apr 2023 07:00:00 GMT
Experiment Validates Stimulated Emission for Single Photons
Scientists at the University of Sydney and the University of Basel have demonstrated the ability to manipulate and identify small numbers of interacting photons with high correlation. The achievement, the researchers said, represents an important landmark in the development of quantum technologies such as photonic computing and quantum metrology.

Stimulated light emission, postulated by Einstein in 1916, is widely observed for large numbers of photons and laid the basis for the invention of the laser. With this research, stimulated emission has now been observed for single photons.

Specifically, the scientists could measure the direct time delay between one photon and a pair of bound photons scattering off a single quantum dot,...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Experiment_Validates_Stimulated_Emission_for/p5/a68865 A68865 Thu, 23 Mar 2023 07:00:00 GMT
Interferometric Method Measures Interactions at Zeptosecond Speed
According to researchers at the Australian Attosecond Science Facility and the Centre for Quantum Dynamics of Griffith University, building an interferometer in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) region is challenging for two reasons. First, it is itself a challenge to control the delay of the EUV pulses precisely between the two arms with subcycle precision. Second, the researchers said, necessary highly reflective EUV optics are not yet developed.

Overcoming these barriers, the Griffith team has now developed a novel interferometric technique that simplifies measurement of the ultrafast dynamics of light-induced processes. The researchers used the interferometric technique to measure time delays with zeptosecond — one trillionth of...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Interferometric_Method_Measures_Interactions_at/p5/a68596 A68596 Fri, 16 Dec 2022 07:00:00 GMT
Modeling Microsphere Effects on Interferometric Resolution
As a result, many theoretical studies have been conducted to better understand the role of microspheres in...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Modeling_Microsphere_Effects_on_Interferometric/p5/a68501 A68501 Thu, 10 Nov 2022 07:00:00 GMT
Hybrid Interferometer Achieves Record-breaking Strain Resolutions
Researchers at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) have invented an ultrahigh-resolution interferometer that is sensitive enough to detect weak acoustic signals that are too faint to be picked up by other sensor types. The interferometer is based on a hybrid design that combines the advantages of a double-path configuration with the benefits of optical resonators.

Nabil Md Rakinul Hoque, who is credited with the invention, embedded an optical resonator-based interferometer — the Fabry-Perot type — into a double-path interferometer — the Mach-Zehnder type — to create the device, known as the Mach Zehnder-Fabry Pérot (MZ-FP) interferometer.

Resonator-based interferometers, like the...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Hybrid_Interferometer_Achieves_Record-breaking/p5/a68261 A68261 Tue, 09 Aug 2022 07:00:00 GMT
CMOS-Compatible Photodetector Spurs Possibilities in e-SWIR Band
High-bandwidth germanium-tin (GeSn) photodetectors, developed by a team at Polytechnique Montréal to support CMOS-compatible technologies in the extended shortwave infrared (e-SWIR) wavelength, could open the way for applications in ultrafast spectroscopy, next-generation optical communications, artificial intelligence, and other emerging areas.
Schematic of the TRS setup to measure emission from the SWIR LED or picosecond supercontinuum laser. In the upper left is an SEM image and schematic of typical multilayer GeSn thin-films grown on a silicon substrate. In the upper right is an example of an interferogram for the supercontinuum laser showing the burst peak and the pulse, temporal-wise waveform as recorded by oscilloscope. A...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/CMOS-Compatible_Photodetector_Spurs_Possibilities/p5/a68053 A68053 Fri, 27 May 2022 07:00:00 GMT
Integrated Photonics-Based Memristor Could Link AI, Quantum Computing
By developing a photonic quantum memristor, researchers at the University of Vienna, the National Research Council (CNR), and the Polytechnic University of Milan may have found a way to link artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing. The researchers engineered a device that works the same as a memristor, while encoding and transmitting quantum information and acting on quantum states.

Memristive devices are electrical components that change their resistance depending on the memory of the previous electrical current flowing through them. They are used in neuromorphic architectures such as neural networks because their behavior is similar to that of a neural synapse.
Abstract representation of a neural network that is made...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Integrated_Photonics-Based_Memristor_Could_Link/p5/a67901 A67901 Thu, 31 Mar 2022 07:00:00 GMT