Why do we feed artificial intelligence data like a normal computer if it can think like a human brain? Scientists are addressing this question by considering the sensory input we humans receive and have developed an optic device inspired by how the human eye works. Researchers recently published the results of their optical sensor, which [..]

AI-based evaluation of medical imaging data typically necessitates the development of a unique algorithm for each task. Scientists have now presented a new method for configuring self-learning algorithms for a wide range of imaging datasets – without requiring specialized knowledge or massive computing power. Researchers have now developed a method that adapts to any imaging [..]

Researchers have introduced a unique drone prototype to help search and rescue teams locate missing persons – even in dense forests. Subjects in individual thermal images often appear completely or partially hidden; the drone instead combines several individual images into one integral image (image integration) that can be used for classification and to better detect [..]

Researchers in silicon photonics have demonstrated the first all-silicon optical transmitter capable of 100Gbps and higher without the use of digital signal processing. The new optical modulator nearly doubles the maximum data rate of current state-of-the-art devices, demonstrating the potential for low power. These low-cost all-silicon solutions avoid complicating fabrication processes with non-CMOS-compatible new materials. [..]

The scientific community has witnessed the tremendous expansion of research on layered (i.e., two-dimensional, 2D) materials, with an increasing recent focus on photonics applications. Layered materials are particularly exciting for manipulating light (tunable optical properties) in the confined geometry of photonic integrated circuits. Key material properties include strong and controllable light-matter interaction and limited optical [..]

Many of the problems that plagued early instrumentation have been overcome in today’s optical designs, but size, weight, and power (SWaP) reductions remain an ongoing goal. Researchers have created a new imaging spectrometer using novel components that significantly reducing SWaP while maintaining performance. The current state of the art in imaging spectrometers is extremely high, [..]

A sampling of commercial facial recognition algorithms shows that face biometrics systems are currently too dependent on specific attributes to distinguish between people of the same race and gender. The problem is investigated in a paper using five unnamed commercial facial recognition algorithms and a commercial iris recognition algorithm as a control. According to the [..]

Researchers have demonstrated a new optical wiring technique for carrying out sensitive quantum operations on atoms. In this technique, the control laser light is delivered directly inside a chip. This should make it possible to build large-scale quantum computers based on trapped atoms. Already in current small-scale systems, conventional optics are a significant source of [..]

Current programmable photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are volatile and suffer from high optical signal losses – both of which prevent them from maintaining their programmed state. A team of researchers has now fabricated meter-scale single-mode photonic waveguides that boast only 0.03 dB/cm optical losses. The researchers also used their waveguides to construct optical true delay [..]

AI-driven quality testing can increase productivity by up to 50% and defect detection rates by up to 90% compared to human inspection. Though machines with automated optical inspection (AOI), powered by machine vision, have replaced most of the manual processes in the modern assembly line, quality control remains a huge and costly challenge. AI software [..]

Electronic displays are becoming increasingly important in daily life, from automobiles to smartphones and wearables to digital signage. As demand grows, display manufacturers require optically clear bonding materials to connect glass or plastic screens to various electronic modules. Strong, dependable adhesion is essential, as is support for a fantastic viewing experience. Furthermore, display manufacturers require [..]

Researchers have demonstrated that X-Ray Holographic Nano-Tomography (XNH) could aid in mapping neural circuits and, eventually, the brain. The researchers describe how XNH can image large volumes of mouse brain and fruit fly nervous tissue at high resolution. Using artificial intelligence-driven image analysis, they reconstructed dense neural circuits in 3-D fruit flies. They cataloged neurons [..]

To recent developments in photonic structures, some structural colors can be reversibly changed in response to external stimuli. Based on a lesson from natural photonic structure, specific examples of photonic crystal‐based structural coloring schemes show unprecedented possibilities in colorimetric sensor applications, such as temperature, pH, ion species, solvents, water vapor, humidity, pressure, and biomolecule detection. [..]

Researchers employed Nafion as a solid medium for the fabrication of transparent luminescent materials with tunable emissions. These membranes are quite famous for their ability to conduct protons and exchange cations. Nafion is composed of hydrophobic main chains and pendant hydrophilic side chains. The side chains are especially important. When Nafion is introduced to a [..]

The explosive rise of silicon photonics has led to renewed interest in the electro-optic (EO) or Pockels effect due to its potential uses in many next-generation device applications. To find materials with a strong EO response in thin-film form, which are essential for low power and small footprint devices, one needs to find a general [..]

Over the last decade or so, a group of scientists has begun to transform the field of optics by engineering flat optics metasurfaces, which use an array of millions of tiny, microscopically thin, and transparent quartz pillars to diffract and mold the flow of light in much the same way that a glass lens does, [..]

Unlike conventional solar panels, which convert sunlight into energy by absorption, researchers’ novel radiative cooling technology works in the opposite direction. Even though there isn’t any heat for solar panels to collect at night, heat still leaves the system that can be converted into electricity. This radiating heat spreads outward as infrared light when a [..]

While your skeleton helps your body to move, fine skeleton-like filaments within your cells likewise help cellular structures to move. Now, researchers have developed a new imaging method that lets them monitor a small subset of these filaments, called actin. Actin is the most abundant protein in the cell, so when you image it, it’s [..]

Integrating a light source inside a Lab-on-a-Chip (LOC) platform has always been as challenging as much as an appealing task. Besides the manufacturing issues, one of the most limiting aspects is due to the need for an energy source to feed the light emission (battery free). A solution independent of external energy sources can be [..]

Researchers have shown that quantum particles can carry an unlimited amount of information about things they have interacted with. The results could enable far more precise measurements and power new technologies, such as super-precise microscopes and quantum computers. Metrology is the science of estimations and measurements. If you weighed yourself this morning, you’ve done metrology. [..]