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A new technique developed by researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Lab promises to improve accuracy and lower costs of real-time assessment of kidney function, reports an article published this week by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, in...

Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) has been a staple of radio imaging and surveillance for more than half a century. But translating the power of synthetic apertures to long-range optical imaging has proved a tough proposition. Scientists at Rice University and Northwestern...

Accurate diagnosis of cancer typically requires removal of a tissue sample for analysis, but optical alternatives to these biopsy procedures would be faster, less invasive and potentially more precise. A hand-held fiber-optic probe developed by a Jena-based project team could...

Researchers from Columbia University, USA, say proof-of-principle demonstrations of their new super-multiplex vibrational imaging platform could eventually expand the current, limited five-color palette available with fluorescence microscopy by nearly five times, to 24 colors.With this new platform, the team says...

Using state-of-the-art multi-core fiber and tiny gradient-index (GRIN) optics, a German team has packed three nonlinear-optical-imaging techniques into a single endoscope with a business end only 8 mm in diameter. The researchers believe that the new multimodal device which combines coherent...

Plastic, rubber, and many other useful materials are made of polymers — long chains arranged in a cross-linked network. At the molecular level, these polymer networks contain structural flaws that weaken them. Several years ago, MIT researchers were the first...

Physicists at Bielefeld University and the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø have developed a photonic chip that makes it possible to carry out super-resolution light microscopy, also called ‘nanoscopy,’ with conventional microscopes. In nanoscopy, the position of single fluorescent...

A unique camera that can capture a detailed micron-resolution image from a distance uses a laser and techniques that borrow from holography, microscopy and “Matrix”-style bullet time. Engineers from Rice and Northwestern Universities built the prototype device that compares interference...

Researchers have developed a new solution to tracking objects hidden behind scattering media by analyzing the fluctuations in optical “noise” created by their movement. In The Optical Society’s journal for high impact research, Optica, researchers from the University of Central...