Meta- and nano-optics are on a fast track to a wide array of photonics systems and commercial solutions, enabling advancements that extend beyond the capabilities of more common and traditional optics. At the same time, owing to metaoptics’ dynamic physical and performance parameters, the convergence of optical metrology techniques with these optics is poised to reshape existing measurement protocols and pave the way for new approaches.

SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, recognized the top innovations in new optics and photonics products at the 2024 Prism Awards held at Photonics West on Jan. 31. The gala event marked the Prism Awards’ 16th anniversary....

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...

In 2017, Clay Bavor, then vice president of Google’s AR/VR division, spoke for all AR/VR device makers when he said, “We need pixels. Way, way more pixels.”1 The display industry has more than risen to that challenge in the...

Lasers provide many different industries with greater efficiency, less waste, and higher precision, but they are not always as easy to fix as the machines they replace. A blunted drill bit is easier to observe and replace than an underperforming...

Earlier this year, at a major recruitment event at the University of Arizona’s Wyant College of Optical Sciences (OSC), the job openings listed outnumbered students in attendance. This imbalance exemplifies the immense pressure STEM programs...

As their name implies, single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) detect single particles of light, and they do so with picosecond precision. Single-pixel SPADs have found wide use in astronomy, flow cytometry, fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy...

The technologies we use in our everyday activities to monitor the world around us — to develop new medicines or to produce the materials we use to build homes, offices, and factories — all rely on the most precise measurements of key parameters...

In October 2021, a 40-year-old undersea pipeline off the coast of California ruptured, releasing more than 130,000 gallons of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean. The spill polluted the ecosystem, stifled local economic activities such as fishing and...

Today’s instruments for measuring optical components deliver increasingly higher resolution, larger measurement areas, and greater analysis functions. In addition to improving results, the added sensitivity and analysis options can also...

It may come as a surprise to learn that, in sharp contrast to the high-precision practices of the optics industry, many optical surfaces are still inspected by the naked eye. Humans have yet to be usurped by automation, in this niche at least, but...

While it may seem intuitive that turning up the power on a laser will produce faster results in a materials processing operation, beam measurement tools often reveal that this only distributes the laser’s energy over a larger area, resulting...

The increasingly broad transi­tion from incandescent light bulbs to OLEDs for general lighting poses new challenges to light measurement. OLEDs exhibit completely different and far greater variations in their spectral distribution. This variability...

From cutting steel to drilling via holes in silicon to marking plastic, a wide range of materials processes now use high-power lasers. Ever-growing demands for increased productivity and reduced waste require that the laser process be stable and...

Laser Fizeau interferometers are the workhorses of optical testing. With proper configurations and accessories, these instruments enable characterization of flats, prisms, concave and convex lenses, and even aspheric elements. While many laser...

3D sensing with NIR wavelengths has taken off in the past several years, with use in such applications as facial and gesture recognition, eye tracking, and automotive vision systems such as lidar. The market for these optical sensing systems is...

Automobile cameras, telescopes, head-mounted displays, laser-focusing heads and other modern photonic devices incorporate high-grade optics that can perform under extreme environmental conditions. The demand for such lenses means they must be...

Conducting accurate thickness measurements is essential for ensuring consistent quality of products such as plastic bottles and containers; however, measurement techniques are often invasive, destructive, time-consuming and wasteful. Unlike...

The concentrated solar market is often overshadowed by photovoltaic (PV) panels, yet the market segment is expected to grow by nearly 20 percent annually through 2020. Concentrated solar power — or CSP — has unique performance advantages...

Extended area blackbodies are now commonly used as reference sources for IR cameras, simultaneously calibrated. The uniformity of the reference blackbody is therefore essential. A newly developed specific bench measures IR source uniformity with a...

CCDs continue to be the sensor of choice for applications such as astronomy and spectroscopy. With future investment, we can expect improvements in sensor architecture, resolution, pixel size and depth, as well as readout speeds. Over the last few...

Laser Munich will focus on image processing, from products and systems to manufacturing and applications. Image processing and laser systems are ever-present in modern manufacturing. The 2015 Laser World of Photonics conference and trade fair,...

The LM-85 approved method for electrical photometric measurement of high-power LEDs harmonizes the methods currently in use and addresses measurement consistency issues. This is the first in a two-part series. The standardized photometric testing...