Engineers have developed a compact, single-shot, free-space-coupled spectrometer with hyperspectral imaging capabilities. The miniaturized spectrometer is fabricated on top of and integrated with a CMOS chip. The device measures 200 microns on each side. It can lie directly on a sensor from a typical digital camera. The miniaturized spectrometer and hyperspectral imager are based on [..]

Researchers have combined the physics of dielectric metasurfaces and hyperspectral imaging to create an ultrasensitive, label-free biosensing platform. The platform can detect and analyze samples at spatial concentrations of less than three molecules per square micron. It could ultimately enable compact portable diagnostics for personalized medicine. It could also offer a route to high-throughput, high-resolution [..]

Lidar is a significant technology for autonomous vehicles to recognize and detect objects in their surroundings. Researchers have targeted the critical component of lidar – optical beam-steering. They created a device that is significantly cheaper to manufacture, lighter, and more resource-efficient than previous variations of the technology. The difference with the new approach to lidar [..]

Researchers used two-photon microscopy to demonstrate that chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells can induce tumor regression by directly targeting and killing cancer cells. The study revealed new details about how these immune cells work. It also improved their effectiveness in treating non-lymphoma Hodgkin’s and other B cell cancers. The researchers monitored the activity of [..]

A novel germanosilicate glass composition created by adding zinc oxide has properties that could be useful for lens applications. A research group invented the new zinc germanosilicate glass family. The glass samples had a high refractive index, comparable to pure germania glass. The samples also demonstrated good transparency, UV-shielding properties, and glass-forming ability, making them [..]

Researchers have developed silicon chip technology similar to that found in personal computers and mobile phones to function as biosensors. It is an essential step toward performing medical diagnoses using handheld devices. The technology eliminates all complex and bulky optical instrumentation used in diagnostic labs by using tiny metal layers embedded in a microchip. As [..]

Microscopy platforms are critical for understanding neuronal activity, but scanning microscope technologies with micron-scale resolution can be slow and produce enormous amounts of data. A group of researchers has developed a novel confocal technique that could aid in the solution to the problem. It is known as Multi-Z confocal microscopy. It can provide two-color fluorescence [..]

New photonic imaging tools can help to understand better the nonlinear behavior of laser light in human blood. A laser beam shining through red blood cell suspensions can become “self-trapped,” according to researchers. The process reduced light scattering to maintain the power of laser beams. The observed nonlinearity was affected by osmotic conditions and sample [..]

Researchers have created a solar-absorbing, ultrathin graphene film with unique properties. The thin film is helpful for solar thermal energy harvesting. The 90 nm thick material can rapidly heat to 160 °C when exposed to natural sunlight in an open environment. The material property paves the way for new thermophotovoltaics (the direct conversion of heat [..]

Combining multiple photonic imaging techniques could lead to novel, noninvasive tumor detection, and evaluation approaches. Rising cancer incidence will require new techniques to provide diagnostically relevant information quickly and reliably. Researchers believe that optical biopsy could be crucial in diagnosing and characterizing cancer. Less-invasive optical imaging could significantly benefit both clinicians and patients with head [..]

Researchers have developed a new method for atomic-scale magnetic field measurement with high precision, both up and down and sideways. The new tool helps map the electrical impulses inside a firing neuron, characterize new magnetic materials and investigate exotic quantum physical phenomena. The technique builds on a platform already developed to probe magnetic fields with [..]

A group of researchers discovered that harmless purple bacteria from the genus Rhodobacter could visualize aspects of tumor heterogeneity in cancerous tumors. The researchers used these microorganisms to visualize immune system cells known as macrophages, which also play a role in tumor development, using optoacoustic imaging. The researchers developed the imaging technique that indicates where [..]

Using novel nanofabrication techniques, researchers have built micro-robots from silicon powered by solar cells. A 4-in. silicon wafer can help produce one million functional microscopic robots. The robots’ bodies form from a superthin rectangular skeleton of glass topped with a thin layer of silicon, into which the researchers have etched electronics control components and either two [..]

Infrared cameras can detect the invisible light emitted by plants as they photosynthesize, cool stars burn, and batteries heat up. Infrared light has less energy than visible light, making it more challenging to capture. A quantum dot technology breakthrough could one day lead to much more affordable infrared cameras, allowing infrared cameras for everyday consumer [..]

Because not all cancerous tumors respond equally to treatments and radiation therapy, clinicians’ treatment regimens and patient outcomes are complicated. A research team has now used Raman spectroscopy to reveal differences between tumors that responded to treatment and tumors that were resistant to treatment, potentially offering a way to distinguish between the two early in [..]

Digital holographic microscopy can reconstruct the images of 3D samples from a single hologram at a fraction of the size and cost of a standard bright-field microscope. It has enabled a plethora of hand-held holographic devices for biomedical diagnostics. Despite these benefits, holographic microscope images generally suffer from light interference-related spatial artifacts, which can limit [..]

Engineers are creating a photonics education toolkit to integrate photonics into colleges’ engineering and science curriculums. The toolkit can help undergraduates learn practical skills in integrated photonics, such as characterizing and testing photonics integrated circuits, typically taught at the Ph.D. level. The team hopes that by teaching these skills earlier in life, more graduates will [..]

Researchers’ experimental photonic switches show promise toward the goal of fully optical, high-capacity switching for future high-speed data transmission networks, demonstrating previously unseen capabilities. The researchers will present the results of a successful scale-up of a 240×240 integrated silicon photonic switch. The device’s name comes from the fact that it accepts 240 optical communication input [..]

Light-based image sensors in autonomous vehicles frequently struggle to see through blinding conditions such as fog. However, researchers have developed a sub-terahertz-radiation receiving system that could aid in the navigation of driverless cars if traditional methods fail. Sub-terahertz wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum between microwave and infrared radiation can easily penetrate fog and dust clouds, [..]

Light-sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) can quickly generate stunning 3-D images of intact organs and tiny organisms like zebrafish and mouse brains. However, the samples must typically be immobilized in a stiff gel to obtain those images. This requirement limits the technique’s use in some studies of biological dynamics and aspects of drug discovery. A team [..]