Photonics for a Better World

Optics and photonics technologies are at work improving our lives in many ways. These technologies are what provide sustainable lighting and energy-generation systems. Nanoparticles are used to rapidly diagnose disease or derive 3D images of living, functioning cells. Optical resonators detect counterfeit or pirated goods. Airborne telescopes probe deep into the Universe while optical fibers send messages instantly across the globe. Engineers and scientists from around the world meet every August at SPIE Optics + Photonics in San Diego to advance research in several broad areas of optics and photonics. A few of the 3,000+ researchers who will present reports next week have provided previews via articles they have authored recently for the SPIE Newsroom. “ Multicolor rapid diagnostics for infectious disease ,” Kimberly Hamad-Schifferli, Chunwan Yen, Helena de Puig, José Goméz-Marquéz, Irene Bosch and Lee Gehrke [ref. 9923-28, Tuesday 30 August, 9 a.m.] Recent epidemic o...

SPIE Women in Optics 18-month planner for 2016-2017. Interest in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) can lead to a wide variety of careers. A few examples: exploring photonic nanostructures that can improve the efficiency of solar energy generation observing micro-organisms in the Arctic ice to learn more about lifeforms of all sorts developing optical systems for noninvasive diagnosis of tumors inside the body assessing the radiation hazard to be incurred by humans travelling to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The paths to all careers include some challenges. For anyone looking at a career in STEM, the latest edition of a free annual publication offering insights on those paths has just been released. The 12th edition of the Women in Optics Planner published by SPIE contains more insights from more than 30 women discussing their interests and occupations and offering advice. Among their stories: Viera-Gonzalez Perla Marlene Viera-Gonzalez ...

The first 60 years of SPIE's history have seen amazing advances, but what will photonics enable in the next 60 years? SPIE Student Chapter leaders will be among those creating the future. Several shared their visions recently at SPIE Optics + Photonics. Sixty years ago, in 1955, the world had not yet seen the first laser -- it had not yet been invented. Fiber optics were brand new, there were no artificial satellites circling the Earth, no humans had been in space, and the first solar cell was in early stages of development as was the first video recording machine. Smartphone? How can a phone be "smart"? In that environment, a group of engineers working in optics and optoelectronics to build the first scientific cameras gathered in a restaurant in Hollywood, California, to discuss a shared challenge. They needed to use high-speed photography to solve design issues and create capabilities in industries from aerospace to communications and to advance research. ...

Editor’s note: Guest blogger Khushi Vyas , Outreach Coordinator for the SPIE Student Chapter at Imperial College London , was among students at the biophotonics and imaging graduate summer school 15-20 June at the National Biophotonics Imaging Platform Ireland (NBIPI), National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway. The first of two posts filed by Khushi describes the topics and trends discussed during the school. BIGSS participants enjoyed an energizing week in Galway. The recent fifth annual Biophotonics and Imaging Graduate Summer School (BIGSS) offered a great platform for multidisciplinary learning in biophotonics and fostered communication across several disciplines. Students went home with new ideas, streamlined directions for research, new contacts, and the motivation to contribute towards finding solutions for unmet clinical needs. Participants included approximately 50 graduate students and early-career professionals and seven distinguished guest speakers working ...

Eco-metamaterials engineered by optics and photonics researchers can lighten our environmental footprint and just may be -- ironically -- more sustainable than materials found in nature. So say Nerac analysts Rosemarie Szostak and Michael Kapralos in their article in the July 2012 issue of SPIE Professional magazine. Metamaterials combine micro or nano structural features instead of relying on composition alone to achieve the desired properties. They have sparked the imagination of the optics and photonics community with their unusual characteristics, and researchers are developing unique metamaterials for their potential as invisibility cloaks, high-efficiency photovoltaics, super-antennas, and ultrabright LEDs. Eco-metamaterials may not yet be "green" based on their composition. However, the reduced quantities of materials, especially toxic ones, used in their development and metamaterials’ inherent potential for exotic properties allow technologists to...

The last few weeks have brought some good news for the advance of photonics research and technology, at least in the near term. On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to authorize $46 billion over the next three years for the America COMPETES Act of 2010, continuing important basic research, science education, and other programs, and initiating new ones for green energy, science and innovation clusters, and workforce development. On 15 December, the Technology Innovation Program (TIP) at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced grant awards totaling $22 million . The TIP awards will fund nine projects in advanced manufacturing research in electronics, biotechnology and nanotechnology, and target technologies in fields ranging from biopharmaceuticals and electronics to renewable energy sources and energy storage. With matching funds from other sources, the TIP awards are expected to result in an estimated $46 mi...