Microfluidic devices use tiny spaces to manipulate very small quantities of liquids and gasses by taking advantage of the properties they exhibit at the microscale. They have demonstrated usefulness in applications from inkjet printing to chemical analysis. They have great potential in personalized medicine, where they can miniaturize many tests that now require a full [..]

Researchers have developed a new way to 3D-print glass microstructures that is faster and produces objects with higher optical quality, design flexibility, and strength. The researchers expanded the capabilities of a 3D-printing process they developed three years ago — computed axial lithography (CAL) — to print much finer features and to print in glass. They [..]

High-performance wavelength discrimination in the long-wave infrared region (LWIR) of the electromagnetic spectrum (wavelength range from 8 microns to 12 microns) is desirable for civilian and military applications. Of particular importance is to achieve on-chip passive thermal imaging with spectral filters, allowing remote target recognition without requiring any light source for illumination since objects emit [..]

Temperature monitoring with a high spatial and temporal resolution is vital in various disciplines, including industrial manufacturing, environmental protection, and healthcare monitoring. Because of their benefits of remote detection, minimum intrusion, tolerance to electromagnetic interference, and high resolution, optical-based sensors offer attractive alternatives for temperature monitoring in biological diagnostics. The luminous intensity, wavelength, peak width, [..]

Researchers have demonstrated, for the first time, light-induced thermomagnetic recording in a magnetic thin-film on silicon waveguides. The new writing technique is poised to enable miniature high-performance magneto-optical memories that don’t require bulky optics or mechanical rotation. The devices are nonvolatile — meaning that data is saved even when no power is supplied to the [..]

Consumers are looking for AR/VR glasses that are compact and easy to wear, delivering high-quality imagery with socially acceptable optics that don’t look like “bug eyes.” Researchers have developed a novel technology to deliver those attributes with maximum effect. The researchers imprinted freeform optics with a nanophotonic optical element called a metasurface. The metasurface is [..]

Exciton polaritons are hybrid particles that combine light and molecules of organic material, making them ideal vessels for energy transfer in organic semiconductors. Thanks to their photonic origins, they are both compatible with modern electronics and move speedily. However, they are difficult to control, and much of their behavior is a mystery. Researchers have found [..]

Researchers have developed a new laser ultrasound technique capable of performing on-demand characterization of melt tracks and detecting the formation of defects in a popular metal 3D printing process. The researchers propose a diagnostic using surface acoustic waves (SAW), generated by laser ultrasound, that can reveal tiny surface and sub-surface defects in laser powder bed [..]

Scientists have created a novel electromagnet that could help gadgets ranging from tokamaks (doughnut-shaped fusion reactors) to medical instruments that capture detailed human body images. Tokamaks rely on a central electromagnet, a solenoid, to generate electrical currents and magnetic fields that confine the plasma (a hot, charged state of matter made up of free electrons [..]

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is diagnosed with an electrocardiogram, the gold standard in clinics. However, sufficient arrhythmia monitoring takes a long time, and many of the tests take place in only a few seconds, which can miss arrhythmia. Researchers have developed a combined method to detect the effects of AF on atrial tissue. The researchers characterized [..]

Polarization holography is a newly researched field that has gained traction with the development of tensor theory. It primarily focuses on the interaction between polarization waves and photosensitive materials. The extraordinary capabilities in modulating light amplitude, phase, and polarization have resulted in several new applications, such as holographic storage technology, multichannel polarization multiplexing, vector beams, [..]

Researchers have developed a quick and cost-effective way to determine the age of malaria mosquitoes using mid-infrared spectroscopy. The new technology is vital for assessing the effectiveness of control interventions as only older mosquitoes can transmit the parasite. The scientists say that their approach could also help with other mosquito-borne and insect-borne diseases. The researchers [..]

Researchers have successfully generated strongly nonclassical light using a modular waveguide device, a waveguide-based light source. By combining a waveguide optical parametric amplifier (OPA) module created for quantum experiments and a specially designed photon detector, researchers produced light in a superposition of coherent states. The achievement represents a crucial step toward creating faster and more [..]

Researchers have developed a new platform for studying human hepatitis C immunity. The method marries microfluidic technology (which allows scientists to precisely manipulate fluid at a microscopic scale) with liver organoids (three-dimensional cell clusters that mimic the biology of real human livers). In the new hepatitis C immunity modeling system, liver organoids grown from adult [..]

Optoelectronic synapses combine non-volatile memory and photodetection functionalities in the same device. It paves the path for the realization of artificial retina systems which can capture, pre-process, and identify images on the same platform. Researchers have used a graphene/Ta2O5/graphene heterostructure to demonstrate optoelectronic synapses. The graphene interface exhibits synapse characteristics when visible electromagnetic radiation of [..]

A group of experimental physicists developed a device that behaves like a memristor while acting on quantum states and encoding and transmitting quantum information. The device is a quantum memristor. Creating such a device is difficult because the dynamics of a memristor defy usual quantum behavior. The physicists have overcome the challenge by using single [..]

The bright-field (BF) optical microscope is a traditional bioimaging tool that has been recently tested for depth discrimination during the evaluation of specimen morphology. However, existing approaches require dedicated instrumentation or extensive computer modeling. Now, researchers have developed a direct method for three-dimensional (3D) imaging in BF microscopy, applicable to label-free samples, where they use [..]

Researchers have calculated the maximum theoretical limit for optoelectronic devices, the point at which the laws of quantum mechanics prevent microchips from becoming any faster. Optoelectronics are the fastest devices globally — systems that use light to control electricity. The new study outlines the limit for optoelectronics by calculating the speed at which the most potent [..]

A fast-evolving understanding of materials and physical processes is critical to security applications. Febetrons generate X-rays to photograph objects moving at extremely high speeds as part of a detonation and allow the measurement of their position, velocity, shape, and internal density profiles. Powering the Febetrons are capacitor modules. Researchers have developed a new “K-module” device [..]

Researchers have significantly improved micro-computed tomography, specifically imaging with phase contrast and high brilliance x-ray radiation. They have developed a new micro-structured optical grating and combined it with new analytical algorithms. The new approach makes it possible to depict and analyze the microstructures of samples in greater detail and investigate a broad spectrum of samples. [..]