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    • Optics

    The laserfocusworld.com Optics channel features articles and other content that discuss precision optical components, systems, and applications.

    Recent

    (Image credit: Optical Surfaces)
    optical_surfaces
    (Image credit: SPIE)
    2025 SPIE Prism Award finalists and award recipients will be honored during a January 29th gala evening at SPIE Photonics West.
    ID 57135231 © Penguiin | Dreamstime.com
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    ID 171043543 © Muhammadsainudin Sa-i | Dreamstime.com
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    (Image credit: Senseeker)
    senseeker
    (Image credit: Optical Surfaces)
    optical_surfaces

    Highlights

    (Image credit: Xuchen Wang/Aalto University)
    “This work could lead to the first experimental realization of photonic time crystals, propelling them into practical applications and potentially transforming industries,' says Professor Viktar Asadchy from Aalto University, Finland.
    Optics

    Photonic time crystals breakthrough

    Sally Cole Johnson
    Nov. 21, 2024
    A breakthrough in photonic time crystals may end up reshaping the way light is used and controlled—good news for future lasers, nanosensors, and optical computing.
    © Endeavor Business Media
    ftpcory_boonelandscape
    Podcasts

    PODCAST: Interview with Cory Boone, Edmund Optics

    Justine Murphy
    Nov. 19, 2024
    Episode 26 of Following the Photons: A Photonics Podcast features Cory Boone, technical marketing manager at Edmund Optics.
    (Image credit: Phlux Technology)
    FIGURE 1. Cryptographic keys ensure controlled access to communication channels.
    Detectors & Imaging

    Quantum key distribution: Secure optical communications

    Ye Cao
    Nov. 18, 2024
    Avalanche photodiodes, infrared sensors capable of detecting single photons, are at the heart of many QKD systems. Their sensitivity allows them to discern the faintest of light...
    (Image credit: NTU Singapore)
    Two thin flakes of niobium oxide dichloride stacked on each other and photographed under a light microscope. One flake’s crystalline grain (gray flake) is positioned perpendicularly to the grain of the other flake (green flake).
    Optics

    Photonics breakthrough can drastically shrink quantum computing parts

    Leevi Kallioniemi
    Nov. 14, 2024
    Very thin materials can create entangled pairs of photons to be used as quantum bits.
    FIGURE 1. Depiction of the ultrahigh-density optical memory. Red dots represent rare earth ion impurities, and blue dots represent defects onto which the excitation is stored by using near-field energy transfer processes. Many optically addressable RE ions within the diffraction-limited excitation volume (red beam) result in an enhanced bit density.
    Quantum

    Near-field energy transfer provides route to ultrahigh-density solid-state optical memories

    Swarnabha Chattaraj
    Nov. 13, 2024
    A combined framework of quantum electrodynamics and quantum mechanical electronic structure theories reveals a promising pathway to exceed the current limitation on data storage...
    (Image credit: L. Guarneri et al., Nano Lett., 24, 21, 6240–6246 [2024]; https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c00694)
    A microscope image of the thinnest lens in the world.
    Optics

    Quantum effects lead to world’s thinnest flat lens

    Sally Cole Johnson
    Oct. 3, 2024
    Quantum mechanical exciton resonances of a two-dimensional (2D) quantum material inspire physicists to explore excitons as resonant building blocks for tunable next-gen anatomically...
    (Image credit: SCANLAB)
    scanlab
    Software & Accessories

    Smart calculation app features 3D laser scan capability

    LFW Staff
    Oct. 2, 2024
    The updated SCANcalc smart calculation app version 1.40 now includes 3D laser scan systems.
    (Image credit: L. Jay Guo Laboratory, U-M Engineering)
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    Optics

    OptoGPT harnesses AI to automate, speed design of optical structures

    Justine Murphy
    Sept. 30, 2024
    An optics-based machine-learning framework could be a game-changer in the push to design more advanced devices.
    (Image credit: Meller Optics)
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    Optics

    Sapphire windows have use in unmanned underwater surveillance vehicles

    LFW Staff
    Sept. 24, 2024
    Custom sapphire windows for unmanned underwater surveillance vehicles feature Mohs 9 hardness.