Building tiny, high-quality lasers in the green and yellow wavelength ranges of the visible spectrum has been a long-standing challenge. But researchers have discovered that by tweaking existing optical technology, they can fill the so-called “green gap” to benefit applications including quantum computing and underwater communications.
An optical fiber-based measurement system that uses fiber Bragg grating sensors is now helping engineers to keep railways on track. The new system can continuously monitor a railway’s catenary structure and pantograph—the components that, when combined, power trains.
An evolving national security risk to communications and navigation has motivated scientists to develop a chipscale photonic modulator that can control light on a silicon photonic microchip. This ultraprecise quantum inertial measurement unit could be an alternative to GPS when satellites are hampered in some way, and potentially be used in LiDAR and quantum computing.
About the Author
Justine Murphy
Multimedia Director, Digital Infrastructure
Justine Murphy is the multimedia director for Endeavor Business Media's Digital Infrastructure Group. She is a multiple award-winning writer and editor with more 20 years of experience in newspaper publishing as well as public relations, marketing, and communications. For nearly 10 years, she has covered all facets of the optics and photonics industry as an editor, writer, web news anchor, and podcast host for an internationally reaching magazine publishing company. Her work has earned accolades from the New England Press Association as well as the SIIA/Jesse H. Neal Awards. She received a B.A. from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.