We’re incredibly lucky to work on Laser Focus World—in case it isn’t already abundantly obvious, our team genuinely enjoys working together and with the entire lasers/optics/photonics/quantum community to spotlight advances within this realm.
While not an analyst by any stretch of the imagination, as our technical editor, I get to see tons of cool work going on throughout the year. Let’s take a quick look at three of my favorites so far in 2024: Meta-optics, cold-atom quantum inertial sensors, and Ti:sapphire lasers go chipscale.
Metamaterials, metalenses, or metafluids with tunable optical properties get my vote for one of the most intriguing emerging and evolving technologies. Anyone else fascinated by them? Were you expecting metafluids? I can’t wait to see where Harvard SEAS researchers take it next.
The amount of quantum R&D work going on—and the variety of applications—is impressive. In this issue, Jonathan Kwolek, a research physicist for the U.S. Naval Research Lab’s Quantum Optics Section, shares his work exploring cold-atom quantum inertial sensors for navigation. It’s a big deal, particularly for the military, because these sensors can provide backup in areas or conditions where global positioning systems (GPS) fail. You can’t jam or spoof these sensors and, unlike GPS, they work underground/underwater or if satellites are unavailable. And the technology is ready to be put to the test now.
Lasers continue to go chipscale—and are poised to revolutionize photonics not only in terms of dramatically shrinking the scale of lasers, but their cost as well. How about a Ti:sapphire laser on a chip? Or hundreds of them? Jelena Vučković’s Nanoscale and Quantum Photonics Lab at Stanford University recently pulled off a prototype that’s 10,000x smaller and 1000x less expensive than any other Ti:sapphire laser ever produced—and they fuel it via a green laser pointer. It’s a mindbendingly cool technology disruption and this space continues to be fun to watch evolve.
If you haven’t checked out Justine Murphy’s fun and info-packed Photonics Hot List videos or Following the Photons podcast episodes yet, please do so, subscribe, and join others who’ve discovered she makes your Tuesdays and Fridays brighter.
