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Lasers that emit ultrashort pulses of light are critical components of technologies, including communications and industrial processing, and have been central to fundamental Nobel Prize-winning research in physics. Although first invented in the 1960s, the exact mechanism whereby lasers actually...

"The size of the market for optics in medical imaging dwarfs that for MRI, computed tomography, or ultrasound," says Cameron Piron of Synaptive Medical. "Optical techniques are not always considered to be the backbone of imaging in medical care, but...

In a collaboration between Argonne National Laboratory and Harvard University, researchers have built a metasurface-based lens on top of a MEMS platform, creating a “lens-on-MEMS” device that focuses light in the mid-IR spectrum. The MEMS-integrated metasurface lens combines the best...

A research team has put two frequency comb generators on a single millimeter-size chip, miniaturizing the dual comb and thus making it portable enough to perform sensing and spectroscopy in field environments in real time. Researchers from Columbia University used...

Through this window, the image contrast and imaging depth are significantly improved, and cortical structures can be imaged at synaptic resolution. This technique holds great promise for studies of brain structure and function in physiological or disease states. ...

A large-scale biosensor developed using nanoplasmonic material is able to accommodate a large number of cells on a single substrate and monitor cell proliferation in real time. The nanoplasmonic material allows for long-term cell survival and unaltered cellular responses. “Usually,...

Researchers have demonstrated electrically tunable large-area metalenses controlled by artificial muscle technology. The adaptive metalens simultaneously controls for three of the major contributors to blurry images: focus, astigmatism and image shift. The device thickness is only 30 μm. To create...

State-of-the-art forest study laser imaging systems are able to distinguish between leaves and wood, and help monitor effects of climate change....

A new optical imaging system uses red and NIR light to identify breast cancer patients who may benefit most from chemotherapy. The dynamic diffuse optical tomography system could predict response to chemotherapy as early as two weeks after a patient...

Researchers have developed and tested a method to non-invasively manipulate optogenetically modified nerve cells with blue light deep within the brain in live mouse models. The blue light used for optogenentic manipulation has a wavelength that scatters easily in brain...