Photonics for a Better World

Wearables including temporary tattoos are contributing to a paradigm shift in healthcare monitoring; above, a slide from a presentation by Nanshu Lu on graphene electronic tattoos for monitoring organ function. Wearable devices, materials, and even temporary tattoos are entering healthcare and other markets, offering the potential for faster, more accurate, and potentially life-saving treatment. Tracking and measuring activity in the 11 major organ systems in the human body systems is imperative for medical providers to quickly and accurately diagnose and treat patients experience trauma or other emergencies. But existing medical equipment may be uncomfortably bulky or take valuable time to set up. Skin-like devices and other technologies can provide unobtrusive, comfortable, and precise alternatives for sensing what is happening inside the body. In one development, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin are developing a skin-like temporary tattoo that ta...

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...