ROCHESTER, N.Y., Sept. 9, 2011 — Streak camera maker Sydor Instruments has finished relocating its headquarters. The new 16,000-sq-ft facility, also in Rochester, will be used for design, production, and testing of its custom diagnostics and imaging systems, the company said. "We’ve opened our new facility to meet increasing demand for new products like the ROSS [Rochester Optical Streak System] 1000 and ballistics imaging system," said Sydor Instruments President Michael Pavia. He added that,...

WALTHAM, Mass., Sept. 8, 2011 — Health and safety company PerkinElmer Inc. said it will acquire Caliper Life Sciences Inc., a Hopkinton, Mass.-based maker of imaging and detection products for life sciences research, diagnostics and environmental markets, for $600 million in cash,...

ÖRNSKÖLDSVIK, Sweden, Sept. 7, 2011 — A new invisibility “cloak” gives Harry Potter a run for his magic by giving a vehicle—even a moving one—the ability to blend into its surroundings or mimic other objects, such as a cow.

DUNEDIN, Fla., Sept. 7, 2011 — Optical sensing equipment provider Ocean Optics has named Kevin Chittim as its president. Chittim’s appointment follows the move of former President Robert Randelman to divisional chief executive for Ocean Optics’ parent company, Halma...

LONDON – If you could pull off the ultimate bank heist without getting caught, would you try it? The perfect crime is possible – in principle – according to scientists at Imperial College London, who have described a new type of invisibility...

GREENBELT, Md. – NASA has completed coating 13 of the James Webb Space Telescope’s 18 primary mirror segments, enabling the observatory to see objects as far away as the first galaxies in the universe. Mirrors are the most critical part of a telescope...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – In an effort to help machines see more like people do, two new techniques for computer-vision technology – heat mapping and heat distribution – have been developed to mimic how humans perceive 3-D shapes. The techniques apply...

Sep 1, 2011 — Imaging solutions provider e2v of Chelmsford, UK, and Thales Alenia Space of Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, have signed two contracts worth a total of $5.8 million. According to the agreements, e2v will supply imaging sensors for high-resolution optical...

Sep 1, 2011 — Safety, health and sensor technology group Halma of Amersham, UK, has acquired Avo Photonics Inc. of Horsham, Pa., from Blaine Hobson, Whitecap Partners, and other shareholders and employees for an initial cash consideration of $9 million. Avo...

LIÈGE, Belgium – Tibetan singing bowls have been used in religious ceremonies to produce rich, beautiful sounds. Now physicists are filling them with water and using them to quantify how droplets are propelled from the water’s surface as the bowls are excited....

Sep 1, 2011 — A multispectral imager ISSAC (International Space Station Agricultural Camera) has successfully captured its first high-resolution image from space, showing the western coastal region of Florida on June 10, 2011, from 250 miles above the Earth. The...

Sep 1, 2011 — Piezo-based nanopositioning stages manufacturer Mad City Labs Inc. of Madison, Wis., has appointed 4286%%Elliot Scientific Ltd. of Harpenden, UK, as its exclusive distributor in the UK and Ireland. The British company will offer Mad City Labs’...

Sep 1, 2011 — Invisibility cloaks, perfect imaging, enhanced photovoltaic light collection, all-optical memories and biosensing are just some of the intriguing applications of metamaterials currently grabbing headlines in scientific journals. The field of...

ATLANTA – To replace big, bulky, high-resolution spectrometers, scientists have developed a microspectrometer that uses resonators shaped like a compact disc to achieve high resolution. Spectrometers have conventionally been expensive, bulky benchtop...

DUISBURG, Germany – A new method that employs precise etching to produce miniaturized thermal imaging sensors promises to enable large-scale manufacturing of automotive safety devices. Because they see more than the naked eye, infrared cameras could improve...

Sep 1, 2011 — NikkoIA SAS of Moirans, France, has signed a worldwide exclusive license agreement with Siemens AG to gain access to its patent portfolio on photodetector technology. The contract is accompanied by a transfer of technology and know-how from Siemens...

Sep 1, 2011 — OmniVision Technologies Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., has agreed to buy the wafer-level lens production operations of VisEra Technologies Co. Ltd. of Hsinchu City, Taiwan, its joint venture with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., for $45...

PHILADELPHIA – One-atom-thick metamaterials that can now be made by controlling the conductivity of sheets of graphene could have wide applications in imaging, signal processing and telecommunications. The study of metamaterials is based on the idea that...

Sep 1, 2011 — Optophase has been appointed the Western Europe distributor of nanopositioning products from nPoint Inc. of Madison, Wis. The agreement covers France, England, Ireland, Spain and Portugal in Western Europe, as well as Norway, Finland, Sweden,...

Sep 1, 2011 — The Life Sciences & Instrumentation Div. of Gooch & Housego based in Orlando, Fla., has announced that its handheld OL 731 USB smart detector was featured in the June 22, 2011, episode of the Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters. The...

LONDON – Scientists studying facial expressions are investigating a way to create socially aware companion robots and graphical characters that could recognize human facial movements. Our brains pick up tiny, subtle clues about faces whenever we...

Sep 1, 2011 — Rochester Precision Optics (RPO) will invest $10.7 million to expand its Henrietta, N.Y., facility and create 151 new jobs, Empire State Development and Monroe County announced recently. Empire State Development, New York’s chief economic...

Sep 1, 2011 — Rudolph Technologies Inc. has received from an integrated circuit manufacturer the first order for its NSX 320 automated macro defect inspection system, designed for advanced packaging processes that use through silicon vias (TSVs) to connect...

RALEIGH, N.C. – A new fiber optic strain sensor can heal itself, which will help engineers collect data in the wake of earthquakes, explosions or other unexpected events and make informed decisions about structural safety. Strain sensors measure the force...

Sep 1, 2011 — Terahertz solutions and technology provider TeraView of Cambridge, UK, has announced that it has received a key order from the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology of South Korea for its TPS spectra 3000 system for research and materials...