Issues

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Getting the measure of semiconductor production

18 June 2021

Advances in optical metrology equipment are helping the semiconductor industry increase productivity and reduce downtime, finds Keely Portway

Feature

Lidar sheds light on ocean health

18 June 2021

Andy Extance finds the pains and gains of laser light’s different behaviour in water for oceanographers using lidar

Analysis and opinion

Entrepreneur interview: ‘I’ve worked hard to promote a team culture’

18 June 2021

Carlos Lee, Epic’s director general, talks to Martina Mueller, CEO of 3D AG, a Swiss company specialising in micro and nanotechnology and holographic structures

Analysis and opinion

Can a scientist be a good entrepreneur?

9 June 2021

David Giltner, founder of TurningScience, discusses whether these two seemingly different career paths can successfully overlap

Analysis and opinion

Diversity and photonics funding highlighted at Epic AGM

9 June 2021

Matthew Dale reports on the association’s yearly event, where the importance of diversity, photonics funding and investment were to the fore

Analysis and opinion

Pitch perfect: How startups can reach investors successfully

9 June 2021

Géraldine Andrieux, at Blumorpho, shares her top tips on getting investors’ attention as a startup

Product focus

Cea-Leti’s spectral imaging tech spots 94% of cancer cells

1 June 2021

Scientists have developed a lensless, infrared spectral-imaging system for medical diagnostics

A metaform is a new optical component that can combine with freeform optics to enable compact AR/VR headsets and eyewear. (Image: University of Rochester illustration/Michael Osadciw)

Product focus

New optical component enables AR/VR glasses without ‘bug eye’ effect

1 June 2021

Researchers have combined freeform optics and a metasurface to deliver high-quality AR/VR glasses that are compact and easy to wear

The beating heart of life science labs

25 May 2021

Keely Portway looks at some of the new imaging techniques advancing biological investigation

Imec is using a high harmonic generation laser with anamorphic mirrors to explore high NA EUV challenges

Feature

Chipmakers look to EUV lithography’s next generation

13 May 2021

Semiconductor manufacturers want the next big thing: to adopt high numerical aperture lithographic processes using extreme ultraviolet light to print smaller circuits. Andy Extance finds out more

Analysis and opinion

From Bangladesh to Finland: my take on women in optics

10 May 2021

University of Eastern Finland's Dr Mousumi Chakraborty discusses women's retention in STEM fields, comparing the differences between Europe and South Asia

Analysis and opinion

Bright horizons: photonics to increase links with end-user sectors

10 May 2021

Closer collaboration with application areas will be key to unlocking further photonics budget in Horizon Europe. Matthew Dale investigates

Analysis and opinion

It’s all in the data

10 May 2021

Carlos Lee, Epic’s director general, talks with Ben Rubovitch, co-founder and CEO at DustPhotonics, a supplier of optical technology for silicon photonics

Giving fingerprint security a helping hand

8 April 2021

Optical methods are helping defeat criminals seeking to hack biometric identification, finds Andy Extance

Feature

Covid-19 impacts doctors' trust in point-of-care tests

8 April 2021

With huge opportunities for light-based diagnostics and therapeutics to combat disease, successful clinical translation depends on funding robust trials – and greater trust between developers and end-users, finds Jessica Rowbury

Analysis and opinion

Entrepreneur interview: Rising in the East

8 April 2021

Carlos Lee talks to Petr Tůma about the growth of Czech-based 4isp, a distributor of HSG lasers, including its move to a leasing model and how it works with Chinese manufacturers

Analysis and opinion

Photonics shows resilience to pandemic

8 April 2021

Photonics West industry update paints a positive outlook. Matthew Dale reports

The gold ball used in size comparison with a one cent coin. (Image: Tobias Westphal/Arkitek Scientific)

Product focus

Vienna quantum physicists measure the smallest gravitational force to date

26 March 2021

Scientists have demonstrated gravitational coupling between two gold spheres of one millimetre radius, thereby entering the regime of sub-100-milligram sources of gravity

This image shows perovskite photovoltaics in the background with individual perovskite crystals shown as the colourful units. (Credit: CUBE3D Graphic)

Product focus

Souped-up solar absorption with perovskites

26 March 2021

Perovskite solar cell design delivers efficiencies to rival those made of silicon

Analysis and opinion

Highlighting career options key to increasing photonics talent pool

15 March 2021

Lydia Sanmartí-Vila, Silvia Tognetti, Federica Beduini and Silvia Carrasco, from the EU-funded Carla project, highlight how career events can increase women talent and diversity-at-large in photonics, helping to fill the skills gap

March 2021

^{Amplitude Laser supplies ophthalmic surgery instrument producers}

Feature

Boosting ultrafast lasers’ medical benefits

22 March 2021

Picosecond and femtosecond lasers are moving beyond ophthalmology into applications including cancer screening and therapy, finds Andy Extance

Analysis and opinion

‘I resigned and swore to myself that I’d be my own boss’

10 March 2021

Carlos Lee, EPIC’s director general, talks to Philippe Bolle, CEO of Skylane Optics, provider of transceivers for optical communication

Analysis and opinion

The UK, Europe and the Horizon

10 March 2021

Despite Brexit uncertainties having affected its participation in photonics consortia, the UK is committed to collaboration in Horizon Europe for the long term, writes John Lincoln

Symetrie’s NanoPos is a miniature hexapod of 68mm height for positioning and adjustment of precision components in six degrees of freedom, with a 10nm resolution.

Product focus

An exact science

26 February 2021

Some of the latest positioning solutions for photonics equipment on the market

February 2021

Digital Edition

February 2021

23 February 2021

Access

The EUV source at Fraunhofer ILT’s Excimer facility delivers 40W at 13.5nm

Feature

EUV technology to become more accessible for SMEs

16 February 2021

Keely Portway discovers how lasers are being used to advance Moore’s law, and how this technology could become more accessible to SMEs

Feature

Photonics’ quantum quest

11 February 2021

Keely Portway looks at some of the latest developments in quantum science, and what they could mean for the commercial space

Analysis and opinion

Clear path to a bigger future

5 February 2021

Carlos Lee, EPIC’s director general, talks to Koichiro Ikeda, president and CEO of Isuzu Glass

The shape of modern optical components is becoming increasingly complex, which can make them more difficult to coat.

Product focus

Functionalising complex shaped optics

21 January 2021

Dr Kristin Pfeiffer, Pallabi Paul, and Dr Adriana Szeghalmi have developed conformal coating processes for functionalising strongly curved optics

December 2020/January 2021

Feature

Medical microscopes get closer to patients

12 January 2021

Algorithms let developers shrink microscopes, enabling innovation by building on existing technology, discovers Andy Extance

A rendering of the experimental setup used. Light is reflected down to the nanostructure of molybdenum disulfide (yellow and teal lattice) and PZT (blue and green). Wavelengths reflecting from the surface are captured by the top detector as transmitted wavelengths pass through the PZT to the bottom detector. (Image: Hong et al.)

Product focus

Smaller, more versatile optical filters on the horizon

6 January 2021

Researchers could spur the development of smaller, more versatile optical filters that are especially adept at playing a trick of the light

Feature

Lidar erupts into new applications

16 December 2020

Now smaller, cheaper and more robust, light detection and ranging instruments are being used in new ways, finds Jessica Rowbury

Analysis and opinion

How inefficient is my laser system and why is it important?

16 December 2020

Nicholas Goffin, research associate at Loughborough University, investigates where energy savings can be made in laser processing

Analysis and opinion

Entrepreneur interview: Eclipsing your dreams

16 December 2020

Carlos Lee talks to Lars Rymell, CEO and founder of Swedish consultancy Eclipse Optics

Analysis and opinion

Ready to recruit remotely?

16 December 2020

Filling technical positions is difficult any time, but the pandemic poses further challenges. Jessica Rowbury reports on a panel discussion where experts gave tips to organisations recruiting during this period

November 2020

^{Classification of nuts as good or bad using Specim’s FX17 camera}

Feature

Spectral cameras gain ground through optical design

13 November 2020

Optical design is crucial in enabling wider adoption of hyperspectral imaging, finds Andy Extance

Feature

Bright future for solar energy

13 November 2020

Optical coatings are helping to improve the efficiency of solar cells, finds David Stuart

Analysis and opinion

Winning investment in 2020

13 November 2020

Following the Inpho Venture Summit in October, Blumorpho CEO, Géraldine Andrieux, discusses how startups should approach pitching for venture capital funding in these uncertain economic times

Analysis and opinion

Leading by example

12 November 2020

Chromacity CEO Shahida Imani discusses adapting to a new industry and her approach to management

Analysis and opinion

Optimism for UK photonics

5 November 2020

David Stuart reports from a panel discussion that saw members of the UK photonics industry discuss opportunities and growth after the pandemic is over

Analysis and opinion

From Russia with light

5 November 2020

Carlos Lee talks with Alexey Zarenbin, general director and founder of Forc-Photonics, about his entrepreneurial journey

October 2020

A schematic of Coherent's adjustable ring mode fibre and the five basic power patterns possible within the focused laser spot (Image: Coherent)

Feature

Custom delivery

14 October 2020

Greg Blackman discovers how emerging lasers with adjustable beam quality are improving quality and flexibility in cutting and welding

Feature

Optical modelling boosts medical device design

12 October 2020

Keely Portway takes a look at the latest developments in optical software for the biomedical industry

Analysis and opinion

Entrepreneur interview: 'Problems are challenges, the more problems you have, the happier you should be'

30 September 2020

From starting an ice cream company as a child to founding an ultrashort pulse fibre laser business, Nikolajus Gavrilinas has always demonstrated an entrepreneurial spirit. Here, he discusses the development of Integrated Fiber Optics with EPIC director general Carlos Lee

Richardson during a lab training session with researcher Chanelle Arias

Analysis and opinion

Making materials science work for all

30 September 2020

Kathleen Richardson, Pegasus Professor at the University of Central Florida, discusses her career developing next-gen materials and her mentorship roles within this

Photonic crystals are responsible for the iridescent colours of a butterfly's wings.

Product focus

Thinner crystals, smaller chips

28 September 2020

Researchers have devised a new way of generating thin 3D photonic crystals that show promise for miniaturising photonic integrated circuits

Analysis and opinion

Covid-19: To travel or not to travel?

16 September 2020

There is no replacement for in-person events, says Carlos Lee, but there are many reasons to be cautious

^{Some of Luminate's third cohort of startups. Credit: Luminate}

Analysis and opinion

Startup class of 2020 continues to innovate during Covid pandemic

4 September 2020

Photonics start-ups from Luminate’s business accelerator presented at The Optical Society’s virtual conference. Greg Blackman asks Luminate MD Sujatha Ramanujan how these young firms are coping during the pandemic

August/September 2020

^{Fibre lasers channel the and amplify the light through a fibre optic cable}

Feature

Design for life

16 September 2020

Keely Portway takes a look at some of the latest developments in optical fibre design for fibre lasers

In deflectometry, a camera images fringe patterns that have reflected off a surface under test, so that a system can deduce a map of the surface slopes from the deviation of the projected fringes, and from that determine the surface shape. Credit: Mahr

Feature

Getting the measure of aspheric and freeform lenses

4 September 2020

Lens features have been getting too small to properly characterise – but metrology providers are catching up, finds Andy Extance

Analysis and opinion

Tech time-bomb: the growing, critical need for optics technicians

26 August 2020

The photonics cluster in Rochester, New York, alone requires 550 more optics technicians every year. Professor Alexis Vogt discusses initiatives to help meet this demand, and suggests other ways to tackle the global optics skills shortage

Analysis and opinion

Challenges and opportunities for photonics in Brazil

26 August 2020

Manuel Steidle discusses the potential for collaboration between Brazilian and international photonics organisations

Analysis and opinion

Sealing success: Developing a photonics packaging company

26 August 2020

Carlos Lee, EPIC’s director general, speaks with Ville Hevonkorpi, CEO at Schott Primoceler

Many university laboratories using lasers have had to shut down temporarily following a visit from an HSE inspector

Product focus

Shaping up on laser safety

26 August 2020

Matthew Dale learns how the safety knowledge of the laser community is not yet fully up to scratch

July 2020

Feature

Every grain counts

31 July 2020

How will the world feed 10 billion people by 2050 with no new land for agriculture? Greg Blackman speaks to machine builder Bühler about how optical sensing can maximise yield in grain processing

SPIE’s career and diversity specialist Meg All, left, facilitated an Equity in Industry panel during SPIE Photonics West earlier this year. Joining All, from left to right, are Openwater’s Mary Lou Jepsen; Double Helix’s Leslie Kimerling; and Chromacity’s Shahida Imani

Analysis and opinion

Equity, diversity, and inclusion: SPIE's collaborative effort

23 July 2020

Daneet Steffens from SPIE details some of the initiatives currently in place aimed at improving diversity in photonics

Investment is making lidar more accessible and cost-effective for the autonomous driving sector

Feature

The driving force behind autonomous vehicles

23 July 2020

Keely Portway delves into some of the latest lidar developments for self-driving vehicles, and how these are proving beneficial in other applications

Analysis and opinion

A determination to succeed

23 July 2020

Photonics engineering student Troy Rzeznikiewicz applied to hundreds of openings prior to starting as an optical design engineer intern at Lumentum. Here he describes the application process and discusses how technical students can be supported to succeed in industry

Ramanujan,right, facilitating the-Investing in Photonics Panel at 2020 SPIE Photonics West

Analysis and opinion

Good business optics: Critical steps to healthy startups

23 July 2020

Sujatha Ramanujan, managing director of the Luminate Accelerator Programme in Rochester, New York, offers four key questions to consider before launching an optics start-up