Photonics for a Better World

Bernardo Cesare ’s photo (above) displays granulite rock under a microscope. The picture resembles a piece of stained glass window through sunlight, but it’s just a thin slice of rock 0.03 mm in thickness and 5 mm in size. The rock’s beautiful "interference colors" derive from the interaction of polarized light with the crystalline matter. Cesare is one of 32 contestants for the People’s Choice Award competition in the SPIE International Year of Light Photo Contest. Judges have already chosen three winners, but now it's your turn to choose. SPIE is providing a prize of US $500 to the People's Choice winner. Online voting continues through 15 August. This blog post features entries illustrating science and technology, including Cesare's, above, and four others, below. Future posts will showcase other entries -- follow the blog to catch them all. Of his work, Cesare says on the National History Museum of London website,“My aim is to reveal the ...

Photonics technologies are helping Nepal cope with recent devastating earthquakes. (Image: GlobalMedic) When massive, lethal earthquakes hit Nepal earlier this spring, photonics technologies from satellites to smartphones were employed to aid first responders and follow-on relief efforts. Photonics is also helping to predict future earthquake locations and possibly mitigate the potential for destruction, reported Rebecca Pool in the SPIE Newsroom . Some highlights from the article: 1. High-resolution satellite imagery : Immediately after the first earthquake, the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System, a joint United Nations and European Commission initiative, instructed the UN’s high-resolution satellite imagery program, UNOSAT, and partners to start mapping the region. Images of priority regions were swiftly integrated into a web map. 2. Interferograms : To pinpoint areas at greatest risk from future earthquakes, the European Space Agency has produced interferog...

It seems only yesterday that the magnificent Hubble Space Telescope (HST) launched. But in reality, it was April 24, 1990. Since then, it’s been consistently the most visible science story in the mass media – there’s something about gorgeous astrophotography that engages the public. But behind the beautiful photos, there are important discoveries the Hubble has enabled. Learning about dark energy and the rate of the expansion of the universe, the first direct image of a planet outside our solar system, and the Hubble Deep Field Shot (see below), the most magnified picture of a spot of the sky ever taken with optical light -- all are among HST’s long list of accomplishments.  The Deep Field Shot (NASA). Click to enlarge.                                           ...