Photonics for a Better World

Nicole da Silva and Jailton Nunes make a self-portrait with a pinhole camera during the Mão na Lata  workshop. Photo by  Fagner França, courtesy of Tatiana Altberg. Science projects that utilize the field of optics – from pinhole cameras to build-your-own telescopes – are an accessible way for educators worldwide to engage students in science by teaching them basic concepts about light. The New York Times Lens Blog recently highlighted one such project in Rio De Janeiro, called Mão na Lata (Hand in the Can), where photographer Tatiana Altberg has held pinhole photography workshops with local NGO  Redes de Desenvolvimento da Maré  for the past 10 years to teach children the fundamentals of optics. Mão na Lata melds classes on photography with literature, self-exploration and local narratives for young people in Maré, a Rio De Janiero favela.  Ruan Torquato, left, uses a pinhole camera to take a photo in Lapa. Yasmin...

This past weekend marked the conclusion of the 2013 Department of Energy Solar Decathlon, held in Irvine, California. It was the sixth time the DOE-sponsored event has been held in the United States, but the first time outside of Washington, DC. Besides the obvious benefits of exposure to a new audience, the contest made the best of the more dependable California sunshine, although there was some rain one day, and the first weekend was a challenge with hot temperatures and 50 mph Santa Ana winds. In any case each team was able to tally a full 100 points for the Energy Conversion part of the competition – meaning every house produced more energy than it consumed – for the first time ever. SPIE Newsroom and SPIE.TV spent some time in Irvine and focused on the technical aspects of some of the houses. We had an expert commentator to help – Adam Plesniak of Amonix, the concentrating PV company located in nearby Seal Beach. Adam’s view, and that of many others we encountered, is tha...

To a child with impaired vision, it might seem like magic. You put on the glasses and turn a dial to adjust the lenses to correct the particular refractive error in your own eyes. Voilà! Instant prescription! Instant clear vision! But it’s not magic. It’s photonics. Specifically, these are “instant prescription eyewear” using adaptive optics, techniques that correct optical signals within a particular system. Applications in astronomy provide a good illustration. Light coming in from space to telescopes on Earth is distorted by particles and gases in the atmosphere. Adaptive optics techniques make corrections in the final viewed image, based on analysis of what has caused the distortion, and render a clear image of what’s out there. A student at Bwindi Watoto School in Uganda wears Child ViSion's instant prescription eyewear. Photo courtesy Child ViSion. Joshua Silver, CEO of the Centre for Vision in the Developing World, and Dow Corning are working to bring a...

Advancements in microtechnology, photonic devices, image sensors and illuminators are helping people with speech impairments and other disabilities communicate and experience a greatly enhanced quality of life without the need for bulky head gear or a bite bar. A recent article in SPIE Professional magazine outlines the innovations that Swedish-based Tobii Technology has made with eye-tracking technologies for augmentative communication systems for people with ALS, (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), for example, as well as for applications in auto safety, medical imaging, human psychology research and more. “Assistive technologies and eye tracking make a natural pair to allow people with disabilities to regain independence and maintain communication,” said Henrik Eskilsson , CEO and co-founder of Tobii Technology. Different from eye-recognition technologies in which a device responds to whether a user’s eyes are looking at it or are open or closed, Tobii’s eye-tracking technology en...

Biomarkers are getting a lot of attention lately as a means of monitoring health and diagnosing disease, and it’s no surprise that photonics-based sensing techniques are bringing them into the spotlight. A project named BILOBA is a collaboration funded by the European Commission through its Seventh Framework Programme. The acronym is an abbreviation of “Bloch electromagnetic surface wave bio-sensors for early cancer diagnosis”(!) BILOBA plans to develop and pre-clinically validate a multifunctional point-of-care platform that is capable of performing real-time cancer biomarker detection in a tandem configuration. Such configuration will utilize label-free detection based on the resonance shift, and the spectral analysis of enhanced fluorescence emitted by biomolecules immobilized on the surface. Utilizing both labeled and label-free analysis on the same sensor system can increase the sensitivity and reliability of optically read out surface-bound assays. The well-established optic...

Light: you need it, you use it. But do most people know how much we use it -- and why should they? Helping to tell that story, the 2 posters at right anticipating an International Year of Light (IYL) celebration in 2015 were among more than 30 on display in the Photonics for a Better World pavilion during the exhibition last month at SPIE Optics + Photonics in San Diego. The posters were designed by supporters of a proposal before the United Nations to establish the IYL to raise awareness about the initiative. Yes, that’s right: a year especially set aside for the contemplation and celebration of light – and along the way, plenty of opportunity to talk about photonics. Hardly a household word now, "photonics" refers to science and technology involving the manipulation of photons -- light. One of the goals of an International Year of Light is, essentially, to make “photonics” a household word, in the same way that “electricity” and “chemistry” are. This...

Here’s a way photonics could create a better world: by preventing our earth from being pulverized by an asteroid. The terrifying arrival of a meteorite in Chelyabinsk, Russia earlier this year raised awareness (again) of the potential for a catastrophic, much bigger object to threaten earth. This one was “only” estimated at 17-20 meters in size, weighing about 10,000 tons. Nearly 1500 people sought medical attention for injuries – flying glass was the main culprit. Also, 7000 buildings were damaged. The entry into the atmosphere created a shock wave that circled the earth twice . So it’s good news that people are applying their creativity to the problem of even bigger objects that might threaten earth – the ones we can see coming. How to destroy them before they destroy us, or simply redirect them into a new path away from our planet? It seems like a job for lasers, doesn’t it? A NASA press release described a “ mission formulation review ” this week to examine concepts fo...