Blog | Syntec Optics

Optical Dreams, Virtual Reality

Posted in: Blog, Polymer Optics | June 15, 2016 at 1:29 am , by synadmn

After decades of development and years of false starts, the time for 3-D head-mounted displays seems to have come at last. Schools are now testing an app, called “Expeditions,” that uses the cheap Google Cardboard attachment to take students on...

Optics breakthrough could improve Infrared Technology

Posted in: Blog, Polymer Optics | June 13, 2016 at 2:06 am , by synadmn

No comments

New research out of Australia promises to dramatically reduce the price of infrared technologies like night vision goggles.Scientists at the University of Sydney recently demonstrated a semiconductor capable of a nearly 99 percent light absorption rate. The semiconductor is just...

An Optical Window for Deep Brain Imaging

Posted in: Blog, Polymer Optics | June 10, 2016 at 2:09 am , by synadmn

No comments

One of the major goals in neuroscience is to image the structure of the brain at cellular resolution. However, achieving deep brain tissue imaging has posed a significant challenge because of technical limitations in accessing wavelengths beyond 950nm. Recently, the...

Better Holograms for Higher Security

Posted in: Blog, Polymer Optics | June 8, 2016 at 12:32 am , by synadmn

No comments

Security holograms have been part of credit cards for more than three decades, but scientists are always seeking to advance the technology. Now, using nanotechnology, researchers in OSA Fellow Federico Capasso’s laboratory at Harvard University (USA) have incorporated polarization into...

Pushing the Limits of Super-resolution Microscopy

Posted in: Blog, Polymer Optics | June 6, 2016 at 12:12 am , by synadmn

No comments

Super-resolution microscopy is a valuable tool for biological imaging, and most techniques require fluorescent molecules to “break” the diffraction limit in order to view structures smaller than a wavelength of light. This fluorescence, however, prevents further imaging of the sample...

Digital Holographic Microscopy for Diabetes Screening

Posted in: Blog, Polymer Optics | June 3, 2016 at 1:30 am , by synadmn

No comments

Transparent objects, such as live biological cells, are difficult to observe and quantify using traditional light microscopes owing to lack of contrast. However, recent advances in quantitative phase imaging (QPI) of transparent microscopic specimens using digital holographic microscopy (DHM) have...

Using Green Light to Treat Migraines

Posted in: Blog, Polymer Optics | June 1, 2016 at 2:01 am , by synadmn

No comments

In addition to pain, many migraine suffers experience light sensitivity that can greatly interfere with daily life. A team of researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Mass., USA, says migraine photophobia may originate in the retinal neural...

Novel Optical Designs can expand visual fields by up to 30 degrees

Posted in: Blog, Polymer Optics | May 30, 2016 at 12:57 am , by synadmn

No comments

A team of researchers from the Schepens Eye Research Institute of Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School (both in Boston, MA) has designed three new eyeglasses using high-power prisms to optimally expand the visual fields of patients with...

Detecting Chemical Threats at Safe Standoff Distances

Posted in: Blog, Polymer Optics | May 27, 2016 at 12:15 am , by synadmn

No comments

Standoff chemical detection is the ability to detect chemicals in an object that is some distance from the measurement instrument. This capability, along with chemical identification and quantification, is highly sought after in security and defense applications.. Read more...

Spectroscopy method can characterize Biological Samples in one shot

Posted in: Blog, Polymer Optics | May 25, 2016 at 1:09 am , by synadmn

No comments

A team of researchers at the University of Maryland (College Park, MD) and Harvard Medical School (Cambridge, MA) has developed a novel spectroscopy configuration that can obtain a biological sample’s entire Brillouin spectrum in one shot, saving time and allowing...