Photonics for a Better World

Ultraviolet image from NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer shows NGC 3242, a planetary nebula frequently referred to as “Jupiter’s Ghost.” Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech Are there any connections between space technologies and healthcare? You bet there is, says Shouleh Nikzad, senior research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the principal engineer, co-lead, and technical director for JPL’s Medical Engineering Forum. Numerous optics and photonics technologies originally developed for space applications have found their way into consumer and medical markets, Nikzad writes in the April 2017 issue of SPIE Professional magazine . Infrared thermometers, workout machines, compact cameras in mobile phones, and imaging technologies are just a few familiar examples. Ultraviolet imaging is also used in medical applications to reveal disease, as in this image of cancerous brain tissue. ...

In existing technologies, 2D technologies can be introduced into products such as silicon electronics, semiconductor nanoparticles, plastics and more for added new functionality; above; a flexible 2d prototype sensor. Graphene, anticipated as the next "killer" app to hit optical sensing, is expected to offer an all-in-one solution to the challenges of future optoelectronic technologies, says Frank Koppens . A professor at the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) in Barcelona, Koppens leads the institute's Quantum Nano-Optoelectronics Group. Koppens, along with Nathalie Vermeulen of B-PHOT (Brussels Photonics Team, Vrije Universiteit Brussel), will lead a daylong workshop in Brussels on 5 April on transitioning graphene-based photonics technology from research to commercialization. In his article on Light and Graphene in the current issue of SPIE Professional magazine, Koppens describes the 2D material's tunable optical properties, broadband a...