Photonics Spectra: materials This is the syndication feed for Photonics Spectra: materials. https://www.photonics.com/Splash.aspx?Tag=materials Thu, 28 Mar 2024 07:03:50 GMT Tue, 26 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT 1800 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
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
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
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
Novel Frequency Comb Could Enable Smartphone Spectroscopy
A microcomb developed by researchers at Stanford University could provide the basis for wide-spread adoption in everyday electronics. The frequency comb device is small, energy-efficient, and highly accurate. With further development, the team envisions applications in handheld medical diagnostic devices and widespread greenhouse gas monitoring sensors.

Since their development, frequency combs have been utilized for high-precision measurement applications, such as timekeeping and spectroscopy. However, the technology has required bulky, expensive, and power-hungry equipment, which has limited their use to laboratory settings.

The researchers found a workaround for these issues by integrating two different approaches for...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Novel_Frequency_Comb_Could_Enable_Smartphone/p5/a69811 A69811 Wed, 13 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
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
Researchers Develop 2D Waveguides, Enable Dark Exciton Study
A team at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), in collaboration with Kansas State University, has developed slab waveguides based on the 2D material hexagonal boron nitride. NRL researchers also developed 3D electromagnetic models of the waveguides. The modeling results provide a toolkit for designing future 2D devices that use slab waveguides. The technology has applications in optoelectronics and enables the study of dark excitons.

2D materials are a class of materials which can be reduced to the monolayer limit by mechanically peeling the layers apart. The weak interlayer attractions, or van der Waals attraction, allows the layers to be separated via the so-called “Scotch tape” method. The most famous 2D material,...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Researchers_Develop_2D_Waveguides_Enable_Dark/p5/a69766 A69766 Wed, 28 Feb 2024 07:00:00 GMT
Measurement Tool Helps Optimize Semiconductors for Optoelectronics
Devices such as solar cells, transistors, detectors, sensors, and LEDs are made with semiconductor materials that have charge carriers that are released when the carriers are hit with light.

Determining the transport properties of a semiconductor’s charge carriers can help researchers predict how effective the material will be for an optoelectronics application. Until now, the parameters of the transport properties in minority and majority charge carriers in semiconductors have been determined by using different measurement methods for each type of charge.

To enable efficient, complete characterization of semiconductors, scientists at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) developed a method that records 14 different parameters...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Measurement_Tool_Helps_Optimize_Semiconductors/p5/a69765 A69765 Tue, 27 Feb 2024 07:00:00 GMT
Hyperfluorescent Blue OLEDs Boost Display Efficiency, Stability
Commercial OLED applications such as display technologies require blue emitters that are more stable and efficient. This need has been intensified by newly proposed power-efficient OLED display architectures that only use blue pixels with external fluorescent color conversion layers.

A Durham University team took an unexpected approach to improving blue light emission in OLEDs. The team used sensitizer molecules long considered poor emitters, like ACRSA, to enable brighter, more efficient blue OLEDs. When ACRSA was used as a sensitizer in the new technology, which the researchers called hyperfluorescence (HF) OLEDs, the efficiency of blue light emission almost tripled.

“We discovered a ‘blind spot’ where...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Hyperfluorescent_Blue_OLEDs_Boost_Display/p5/a69755 A69755 Thu, 22 Feb 2024 07:00:00 GMT
Metamaterial’s Magnetoelectric Response Could Enable New Applications
An optical metamaterial from Aalto University has the potential to enable applications that would otherwise need a strong external magnetic field to work.

The 3D metamaterial demonstrates an isotropic and resonant nonreciprocal magnetoelectric (NME) response in the visible frequency range. The NME effect, also known as the Tellegen effect, has both electric and magnetic properties. In materials exhibiting the NME effect, magnetization can be induced by the electric component of light, and polarization can be generated by the magnetic component.

The NME effect is negligible in natural materials. However, due to its technological potential, there have been various attempts by scientists to enhance the NME effect using...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Metamaterials_Magnetoelectric_Response_Could/p5/a69748 A69748 Wed, 21 Feb 2024 07:00:00 GMT
Nanocavity Approach Enables Unprecedented Confinement, Lifetime
Researchers from The Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) have introduced a type of polaritonic cavity that redefines the limits of light confinement. The work demonstrates an unconventional way of confining photons, overcoming traditional limits in nanophotonics.

Confining photons to increasingly small volumes has long been an area of interest for physicists. The natural length scale of the photon is the wavelength and when a photon is forced into a cavity much smaller than the wavelength, it effectively becomes more concentrated. This concentration enhances interactions with electrons, amplifying quantum processes within the cavity.
Researchers have developed nanocavities that enable deep subwavelength volume and extended...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Nanocavity_Approach_Enables_Unprecedented/p5/a69735 A69735 Fri, 16 Feb 2024 07:00:00 GMT
Quantum Firms to Research Materials for Single Photon Detection
Under the contract, Multiverse Computing and Single Quantum will use quantum simulation to improve the superconducting film that allows the hardware to detect photons. The quantum companies won funding through a competitive bidding process to use quantum simulation to improve the transmission capabilities of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors. These detectors are essential for quantum...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Quantum_Firms_to_Research_Materials_for_Single/p5/a69736 A69736 Thu, 15 Feb 2024 07:00:00 GMT
Shortwave System Captures Photoluminescence Lifetime in One Shot
An imaging system developed by researchers from the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) captures the photoluminescence lifetimes of rare-earth doped nanoparticles in the micro- to millisecond range. The high-precision shortwave infrared (SWIR) imaging technique paves the way for application in biomedical and information security where accuracy and dependability are essential.

Rare-earth doped nanoparticles (RENPs) possess unusual light-emitting properties that researchers find useful, like the ability to emit in the UV, visible, and SWIR ranges. The photoluminescence lifetime of RENPs has the advantage of being minimally affected by external conditions. As a result, measuring it through imaging provides data from...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Shortwave_System_Captures_Photoluminescence/p5/a69728 A69728 Tue, 13 Feb 2024 07:00:00 GMT
Optical Control of Biofilm Growth Supports Biomaterials Advancements
Biofilms, slimy layers formed when bacteria stick together on a surface, allow bacteria to shield themselves from extreme environments. As sources of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, biofilms can cause serious issues in health care and other industries. Conversely, biofilms of harmless bacteria can be used to develop new biomaterials. The power to optically control biofilm formation could allow scientists to harness these microbial layers to develop and enhance bioengineering applications.

Researchers at California State University, Northridge investigated the use of optical trapping to regulate bacterial aggregation and biofilm development. In the work, the team used lasers of varying wavelengths and determined which wavelengths...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Optical_Control_of_Biofilm_Growth_Supports/p5/a69721 A69721 Mon, 12 Feb 2024 07:00:00 GMT
Semiconductor Ink Offers High-Efficiency, Sustainable Emission for OLEDs
A new, 3D-printable material that is a highly efficient emitter could lead to cheaper, more sustainable manufacturing processes for OLED devices. The material, called supramolecular ink, demonstrated the ability to convert nearly all absorbed light into visible light during the emission process.

Although OLEDs are lighter, thinner, and more energy-efficient than other flat-panel technologies and provide a higher-quality image, they often contain rare, expensive metals such as iridium. Supramolecular ink, which is made of inexpensive, Earth-abundant elements instead of costly, scarce metals, could enable more affordable, environmentally sustainable OLED displays and electronic devices.
These 2-cm-high 3D-printed objects were...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Semiconductor_Ink_Offers_High-Efficiency/p5/a69695 A69695 Tue, 06 Feb 2024 07:00:00 GMT
Ultrafast Phenomenon Prompts Data Storage Efficiency Hypothesis
A recent discovery from the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), could enable faster and more efficient magnetic hard drives by using ultrafast laser pulses to process data. The findings could significantly reduce energy consumption for data centers.

The current hard drives used in data centers, while much cheaper than solid-state drives used by many commercial devices, are much slower and consume a lot of energy because they use a magnetic field to conduct heat through a wire coil each time an information bit is processed.

The research work at UC Davis sought to test whether domain walls in certain multilayered ferromagnets could remain stable at speeds >10 km/s — a speed that scientists recently predicted was...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/Ultrafast_Phenomenon_Prompts_Data_Storage/p5/a69675 A69675 Tue, 30 Jan 2024 07:00:00 GMT
PsiQuantum, Mitsubishi Partner to Develop Energy-Efficient Materials
Since predicting the optical properties of materials requires complex analysis of excited states, standard algorithmic techniques for...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/PsiQuantum_Mitsubishi_Partner_to_Develop/p5/a69667 A69667 Fri, 26 Jan 2024 07:00:00 GMT
AI-aided Implant Captures Deep Brain Images
A neural implant developed at the University of California San Diego could help advance the path to minimally invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) technology. The implant provides high-resolution data about deep neural activity by recording at the brain’s surface.

Built by a team led by professor Duygu Kuzum, the implant consists of a thin, transparent, flexible polymer strip that conforms to the brain’s surface. The strip is embedded with high-density arrays of graphene microelectrodes that enable up to 256 channels.

The graphene microelectrodes have ultrasmall openings and large, transparent recording areas. The diameter of the microelectrodes is scaled down to 20 μm. Each electrode in the implant is...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/AI-aided_Implant_Captures_Deep_Brain_Images/p5/a69653 A69653 Tue, 23 Jan 2024 07:00:00 GMT
UV-LED Photolithography Imparts Micro Features
Technologies like integrated signal distributing, processing, and sensing networks require basic optical elements such as waveguides, splitters, gratings, and optical switches to be miniaturized. This poses challenges, especially for curved elements such as bends and ring resonators, which require an especially high resolution and lower sidewall roughness.

There are a number of methods to achieve subwavelength high-resolution manufacturing, though they tend to be costly, complex, and time-consuming. Nanoimprint lithography is promising as an approach to efficient high-resolution manufacturing, but it requires high-quality master stamps often produced with electron beam lithography.
An illustration of the UV-LED-based microscope...]]>
https://www.photonics.com/Articles/UV-LED_Photolithography_Imparts_Micro_Features/p5/a69645 A69645 Thu, 18 Jan 2024 07:00:00 GMT