Credit: Wolf/TU Graz
Birgitta Bernhardt in the lab with the retroreflector counterpart to her mobile UV dual-comb spectrometer.
In an advance for spectroscopy, a mobile ultraviolet (UV) dual-comb spectrometer is so precise it helped correct rotational constants of formaldehyde—which has been incorrect ...
Credit: WhaleSpotter
The AI-aided detection system captures clear images of humpback whales even in challenging conditions.
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Following the Photons: A Photonics Podcast
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Credit: Optalysys
Optalysys waveguides.
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Learning Resources

Courtesy of PI Americas (Physik Instrumente)
White paper
How PI's FMPA Photonic Alignment Technology Enabled an Industry - and Will Benefit Yours
June 9, 2026
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Sponsored
This paper reviews advances in precision motion control for photonics alignment and laser material processing, highlighting micro-hole drilling, new control algorithms, and hybrid...
June 4, 2026
spectroscopy
Sponsored
Capture irreversible transformations in real time. Learn how ultrafast imaging tracks lattice dynamics and carrier behavior during critical material changes. Register now.
July 15, 2026
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Sponsored
Learn how laser performance affects food inspection, measurement, and sorting systems, and how predictive maintenance can support uptime, reliability, and process consistency ...
May 11, 2026

Podcast

Lasers/Sources

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Following the Photons: A Photonics Podcast
This episode of Following the Photons: A Photonics Podcast features Félicie Albert, director of the Jupiter Laser Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
June 2, 2026
Credit: Caroline Perron
Pierre Luc Thériault, a Ph.D. student in engineering physics, aligns the team’s experimental setup.
A new type of organic thin film manipulates light in ways not currently possible on today’s silicon photonic chips—and placing it directly onto silicon opens the door to optical...
June 2, 2026
Credit: Isaac Nape
Light Mkhumbuza, a graduate student at Wits University’s School of Physics, who ran the team’s experiments.
Scientists discover light’s chirality and spin during propagation can be controlled by simply tweaking its topology—sans mirrors, lenses, or special materials.
June 1, 2026
Credit: Vahala Lab/Caltech
Researchers at Caltech have designed an approach for guiding light on silicon wafers with low signal loss comparable to that of optical fiber at visible wavelengths, which paves the way for a new generation of PICs.
Researchers are narrowing a decades-old performance gap between optical fiber and integrated photonics, which could fundamentally reshape photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and...
May 29, 2026

Optics

FIGURE 1. AI-generated image depicts the advantage of the stable, telecom-ready CN center defect complex in silicon (right) over the more fragile T center.
Newly discovered CN complex provides a more durable quantum defect that may accelerate advanced quantum technologies based on silicon.
May 26, 2026
Credit: Lightelligence
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In a Q&A with Laser Focus World, Maurice (Mo) Steinman, senior vice president and U.S. general manager of Lightelligence, answers our questions about its optical solutions and...
May 25, 2026
FIGURE 1. AI-based image-space wavefront sensing.
Computational wavefront sensing eliminates the need for dedicated wavefront sensing hardware and maintains accurate wavefront estimation—offering a flexible alternative architecture...
May 13, 2026
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Following the Photons: A Photonics Podcast
This episode of Following the Photons: A Photonics Podcast features Yvain Thonnart of CEA-List, a French research institute.
May 12, 2026

Quantum

FIGURE 1. A superconducting quantum processor is not only a chip. It is a cold signal system that must move control, readout, timing, and diagnostic information through a tight refrigerator without adding too much heat or clutter.
Superconducting quantum computers are often shown as chips inside deep refrigerators, but scale will depend on the cold signal network around the chip. Control, readout, timing...
May 7, 2026
FIGURE 1. Comparison of laser frequency deviation: The unlocked laser (gray) exhibits significant environmental drift, while the analog lock (blue) suppresses most of this noise but is limited by hardware-induced drift and component tolerances. The digital implementation (green) leverages high-speed DSP to achieve a near-zero error signal and provide the superior stability required.
Software-defined FPGA-based approaches enable more flexible, precise, and cost-effective stabilization workflows—particularly for applications such as spectroscopy, interferometry...
April 29, 2026
Credit: Haoran Ren
Mosaic pattern artwork that inspired this work.
A controlled chaotic metasurface design approach assigns different groups of metapixels each a distinct function. By distributing them across the surface in a disordered mosaic...
April 15, 2026
Credit: M. King/NIST
NIST scientist Nikolai Klimov holds a PIC with tweezers.
A new photonic chip packaging approach may open the door to applications where conventional photonic packaging simply can’t survive—such as space missions, nuclear environments...
April 8, 2026

Test/Measurement

Credit: Phlux Technology
FIGURE 1. Time-of-flight physics.
Infrared time-of-flight (ToF) moves from specialist metrology into mainstream applications, thanks to avalanche photodiode advances and system architecture options.
May 28, 2026
Credit: Hartech/Tampnet/ICON Project
Researchers are now digging into existing fiber-optic cables underground, as they explore uses beyond communications networks.
A new initiative could see existing fiber-optic internet cables double up as sensor networks for applications including environmental monitoring.
May 12, 2026
Sensofar's headquarters in Terrassa, Spain
In this interview, Antonio Castelo, EPIC’s technology manager for Biomedical and Laser Technologies, speaks with Roger Artigas, president and CTO of Sensofar Tech SL, a multinational...
May 11, 2026
FIGURE 1. 180° LiDAR for physical AI software-defined images.
LiDAR needs adaptive sensors to meet the needs of physical artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
May 6, 2026

Detectors/Imaging

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Following the Photons: A Photonics Podcast
This episode of Following the Photons: A Photonics Podcast features Sebastian Bauer, CEO and cofounder of Ubicept, which specializes in single-photon imaging and perception.
May 26, 2026
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Following the Photons: A Photonics Podcast
This episode of Following the Photons: A Photonics Podcast features Erin Howard, a research scientist working at the University of Washington on the Vera C. Rubin Observatory....
May 5, 2026
Credit: E. Joseph et al., Adv. Mater. Technol., 11, 2, e01461 (2026); https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.202501461
Design of BIOPIX polymer pixel arrays. a) Left: A schematic of the BIOPIX device architecture featuring a 2 × 2 polymer pixel array. Right: A photograph of a 2 × 2 BIOPIX device. b) Left: Schematic of the BIOPIX device architecture with a 4×4 polymer pixel array. Right: Photograph of a 4 × 4 BIOPIX device.
A “retina emulator” generates detectable signals for light pulses of 20- to 50-millisecond durations, which are typical “slow” timescales found within real living retinas—and ...
April 14, 2026
Credit: Pacific Optica
A moment of focus in the Smith Lab: perfecting a prototype SAM-integrated multiphoton imaging system for the next leap in imaging technology.
An inertia-free scan angle multiplication design overcomes a long-standing mechanical bottleneck to enable high-speed scanning across massive fields of view, with large beams ...
April 3, 2026