SHANGHAI, March 21, 2024 — 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 among 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,

GAITHERSBURG, Md., March 15, 2024 — 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,...

HARBIN, China, Jan. 25, 2024 — Abnormalities in white blood cell count are indicative of a blood disorder. Measuring these abnormalities is imperative. However, the use of flow cytometry and other conventional methods to assess white blood cell concentration is confined to...

GLASGOW, Scotland, Nov. 21, 2023 — The ability to compress laser pulses to ultrahigh powers could open the way for compact lasers in the order of exawatt and above. Such powerful lasers would enable scientists to push the limits of physical science by deepening their study of the...

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Oct. 24, 2023 — An international team of scientists is rethinking the principles of radiation physics, with the goal of creating super-bright light sources that are compact and relatively convenient to use. Coherent light sources such as free-electron lasers (FELs)...

DIDCOT, England, Oct. 5, 2023 — The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Central Laser Facility (CLF) was awarded £85 million ($103.2 million) by UK Research and Innovation for an upgrade initiative that includes construction of the Vulcan 20-20 laser, which is...

Oct 1, 2023 — It is strange that the study of materials has been intertwined with the study of our universe. Somewhat paradoxically, improving our grasp of atoms has enabled us to answer questions about the cosmos. Although humanity has always looked to the stars...

WESTMINSTER, Colo., Aug. 17, 2023 — Ball Corp. has reached an agreement to sell its aerospace business to BAE Systems for $5.6 billion in cash. BAE Systems is a provider of high-tech solutions for defense markets, including imaging, sensors, and optical displays, among others. Ball...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Aug. 9, 2023 — NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications project will test the use of near-infrared lasers as potential replacements for the current radio frequency systems. The technology demonstration, scheduled to piggyback on the Psyche mission launching...

DRESDEN, Germany, July 21, 2023 — Applied Materials and the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems (Fraunhofer IPMS) collaborated to create what will be Europe’s largest technology hub for semiconductor metrology and process analysis. The hub will be located at the...

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 5, 2023 — NASA named Jane Rigby as the new senior project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope mission. Rigby is an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Rigby was one of the three commissioning scientists for Webb. She also led...

JENA, Germany, April 11, 2023 — The European Space Agency (ESA) is set to launch its Jupiter Icy Moons Explore (JUICE) mission this week, which aims to explore Jupiter and its moons. On board the spacecraft will be the GALA measuring instrument, which will use laser pulses to...

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 6, 2023 — According to NASA, orbital debris is an increasingly serious issue that could impede access to space and complicate communication satellite operations, astronaut safety, and more, particularly with the advent of satellite constellation networks....

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., March 8, 2023 — Researchers at Penn State have developed a metalens that is large enough to be put into a telescope, and used the optic to image the moon's surface. The metalens, which the researchers used to create a metalens telecscope instrument, works in the...

SHANGHAI, Feb. 10, 2023 — Lidar technology company Hesai Group announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 10 million American Depositary Shares (ADS), at $19 per ADS, for a total offering size of $190 million. Each ADS represents one class B ordinary share of...

THUWAL, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 2, 2023 — Imaging through a light-scattering medium, such as clouds in the sky or tissues in the body, poses special challenges. The scattered light must be reconstructed, typically by using complex optical elements in an environment that is vulnerable to...

VICTORIA, British Columbia, Oct. 28, 2022 — After starlight enters the atmosphere, it passes through layers of turbulence that grant the light a twinkling or flickering effect when viewed from Earth. This turbulence also affects the quality of images taken with ground telescopes. This effect...

MELBOURNE, Australia, Oct. 11, 2022 — Researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney spectroscopically confirmed a number of strong gravitational lenses that were initially identified...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 16, 2022 — On-chip laser frequency combs are a promising technology for applications including environmental monitoring, optical computing, astronomy, and metrology. However, the inability to design an on-chip laser frequency comb that is both efficient and...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 12, 2022 — NASA’s James Webb Telescope has captured the first clear evidence for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet outside out solar system, shortly after taking its first image of an exoplanet. The observations made with the powerful infrared...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 6, 2022 — Astronomers have used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to take a direct image of a planet outside our solar system. The image, shown through four different light filters, demonstrates how the telescope’s infrared capabilities can lead...

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 12, 2022 — The first images from the James Webb Space Telescope are being released today, following an initial release of a “teaser” image July 7, and a subsequent preview image released July 11 during a press conference by U.S. President Joe...

TUCSON, Ariz., June 21, 2022 — The Contreras Fire, which began June 11 about eight miles south of the Kitt Peak National Observatory, has destroyed four nonscientific structures related to the observatory. According to a release Sunday afternoon from the National Optical Infrared...

Jun 1, 2022 — When the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Herschel Space Observatory revealed that the universe was far richer in star-forming dust than previously thought, the engineers who were developing a new mid-infrared space instrument recognized...

SYMONSTON, Australia, April 11, 2022 — Electro Optic Systems Holdings Ltd. (EOS) has entered into an agreement with Callaghan Innovation to acquire the assets and hire the personnel of KiwiStar Optics (KSO), a producer of precision optics (telescope lenses up to and over 1 m in diameter)...