Photonics for a Better World

On left, the patient’s left eye has no cataract and all structures are visible. On right, retinal image from fundus camera confirms the presence of a cataract. (From Choi, Hjelmstad, Taibl, and Sayegh, SPIE Proc. 85671Y , 2013)   Article by guest blogger Roger S. Reiss , SPIE Fellow and recipient of the 2000 SPIE President's Award. Reiss was the original Ad Hoc Chair of SPIE Optomechanical Working Group. He manages the LinkedIn Group “ Photonic Engineering and Photonic Instruments .” The human eye and its interface with the human brain fit the definition of an "instrument system."   The human eye by itself is also an instrument by definition. After the invention of the microscope and the telescope, the human eye was the first and only detector for hundreds of years, only to be supplemented and in most cases supplanted by an electro-optical detector of various configurations. The evolution of the eye has been and still is a mystery.   In National Geogr...

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...

Prior to sealing up the chamber and pumping the vacuum system down, a LIGO optics technician inspects one of LIGO’s core optics (mirrors) by illuminating its surface with light at a glancing angle. It is critical to LIGO's operation that there is no contamination on any of its optical surfaces. Credit: Matt Heintze/Caltech/MIT/LIGO Lab Update, 11 February: A hundred years after Einstein predicted them, gravitational waves from a cataclysmic event a billion years ago have been observed. For the first time, scientists have observed gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of spacetime arriving at Earth from a cataclysmic event in the distant universe. This confirms a major prediction of Albert Einstein's 1915 general theory of relativity and opens an unprecedented new window to the cosmos. The discovery was announced on 11 February at a press conference in Washington, DC, hosted by the National Science Foundation, the primary funder of the Laser Interferom...

Sci-fi meets reality in this 1975 NASA photo: The Shuttle Enterprise rolls out of its Palmdale, California, manufacturing facilities with Star Trek television cast members on hand for the ceremony. From left to right are James Fletcher (NASA), DeForest Kelley (“Dr. ‘Bones’ McCoy”), George Takei (“Mr. Sulu”), James Doohan (“Chief Engineer Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott”), Nichelle Nichols (“Lt. Uhura”), Leonard Nimoy (“Mr. Spock”), Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, an unnamed NASA official, and Walter Koenig (“Ensign Pavel Chekov”). Fifty years after Gene Roddenberry launched the Star Trek series on American television, many of the then-futuristic devices and ideas on the award-winning show have become commonplace on Earth. Roddenberry’s creativity and extensive homework in consultation with scientists and engineers of his day infused the show with technology such as photodynamic therapy, laser weapons, and handheld sensors and communication devices. In the process, hi...

Researchers are learning more about how to improve cancer detection through teaching pigeons like the two above to identify images of cancerous cells. Pigeons have been taught how to detect breast cancer -- with an accuracy rate that surpasses humans -- and in the process have inspired ideas about how to better teach humans how to visually detect cancer. Researchers from the University of California Davis, the University of Iowa, and Emory University published a paper last month detailing how they trained pigeons -- Columba livia , commonly called rock doves, to be precise -- to detect cancerous cells. The birds attained an accuracy rate of 85%, higher than the accuracy of humans doing the task (84%), the Chicago Tribune reported. (Also see the Wall Street Journal for more coverage.) And when four pigeons were tested on the image and their results combined (“flocksourcing”?), the birds were 99% accurate in identifying cancerous cells. The researchers also found t...

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 ...

Harvesting, collecting, and deriving usable energy from the Sun and other sustainable sources for people around our planet has made important leaps forward of late. Whether it is summer or winter in your part of the world, that’s excellent news for our future energy needs. The dual nature of light, recently demonstrated in an image from the Carbone group at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, and featured as Figure 1 in a review paper in the Journal of Photonics for Energy : "Energy-space photography of light confined on a nanowire simultaneously shows both spatial interference and energy quantization." doi:10.1117/1.JPE.5.050997 An open-access article in the Journal of Photonics for Energy co-authored by nine international experts* details some of those advances. Here’s a short list from their review of the state of the art, titled "The role of photonics in energy." 1. Making cheaper and more efficient solar cells Today’s solar cells a...