Issues

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April 2015

Feature

Collaboration is dead, long live collaboration!

1 April 2015

Following a session he moderated at Photonics West on biophotonics funding, Mark Hutchinson at the University of Adelaide argues that a more integrated, transdisciplinary research environment is needed in biophotonics

Feature

Medical modelling

1 April 2015

Jessica Rowbury explores the role optical modelling software plays in designing medical instruments

Feature

Explosive potential

1 April 2015

Handheld Raman sensing systems are now available for scanning containers for explosives, but the technology has yet to be developed for sensing at any kind of standoff distance. Greg Blackman looks at the efforts being made in Raman imaging for explosives detection at range

Feature

Photonics to benefit from US export control reform?

1 April 2015

The proposed reforms to US Munitions List Category XII are expected to be published soon, a change in regulation that could be controversial among the optics and photonics industry, writes Jennifer Douris, a lobbyist at SPIE

Feature

The draw from Laser Mégajoule

1 April 2015

The Laser Mėgajoule facility in France is one of the latest in large laser installations. Tom Eddershaw looks at how this type of huge project helps the photonics industry

March 2015

Feature

Beam me down

9 March 2015

Free space optical communication was recently demonstrated from the Moon, and in 2020 could be used to transmit data from Mars. Jessica Rowbury reports from a conference at Photonics West where laser communication was discussed as a means to revolutionise data transmission to and from space

Feature

Sporting smart clothing

9 March 2015

Greg Blackman investigates the latest miniature and wearable sensing technology, including 'smart' textiles incorporating fibre optic sensors to give data on movement

Feature

Charles Townes: a 'giant of a friend'

9 March 2015

During a plenary session at Photonics West, SPIE CEO Dr Eugene Arthurs paid tribute to his friend Charles Townes, the inventor of the maser, who passed away on 27 January. Jessica Rowbury reports on Towne' life

Feature

Gender equality in photonics?

9 March 2015

In a traditionally male-dominated industry, Jessica Rowbury looks at the representation of women in the field of optics and photonics

February 2015

Feature

Printing skin via laser

30 January 2015

Tom Eddershaw looks at the laser technology developed to print live cells, as well as other applications of biophotonics

Feature

Consistency-led lighting

30 January 2015

Jessica Rowbury discusses the technologies used to test LEDs and how test equipment manufacturers are keeping up with the simultaneous demand for accuracy and lower cost

Feature

EUV ready for volume production?

30 January 2015

There have been positive signs from the likes of ASML that EUV lithography is finally ramping up for volume production of silicon chips. Greg Blackman reports

December 2014/January 2015

Feature

A year to remember

9 December 2014

The United Nations has proclaimed 2015 the International Year of Light (IYL) and Light-based Technologies, a chance to engage the public and promote photonics all over the world. Jorge Rivero Gonzalez, the European Physical Society`s IYL 2015 outreach officer, discusses the opportunities the initiative offers

Feature

Photonics IP protected?

9 December 2014

Dr Andrew Fearnside, a senior associate at law firm Appleyard Lees, sets out the arguments for protecting intellectual property when commercialising photonics innovations, and what to consider when seeking IP protection

Feature

Beauty illuminated

9 December 2014

Jessica Rowbury looks at the variety of uses for photonics technologies in cosmetics, and discovers how the industry is addressing safety

Feature

Handling the heat

9 December 2014

In order to reach higher powers, diode laser companies are employing various cooling techniques within their diode stacks. Tom Eddershaw investigates the technology

Feature

Compensating for pulsed lasers

9 December 2014

Greg Blackman looks at the optics for ultrashort pulsed lasers, including those planned for the Extreme Light Infrastructure Beamlines facility, expected to become operational at the end of 2017

Feature

Data transmission above Vienna

9 December 2014

Greg Blackman speaks to Mario Krenn at the University of Vienna on work sending light-encoded images 3km through the air across the city`s skies

November 2014

Feature

The VC marriage

7 November 2014

Following coaching the start-up companies pitching for finance at Invest in Photonics, Géraldine Andrieux Gustin, a senior partner at Yole Finance, gives her five tips for attracting investment from venture capitalists

Feature

Making sense of optical fibres

7 November 2014

Fibre optic sensors are now being used worldwide from monitoring stress in airplane wings to helping doctors guide catheters inside their patients. Tom Eddershaw looks at the technology

October 2014

Feature

Rising to the ion challenge

25 September 2014

In order to obtain the properties required from complex optical coatings, companies running ion beam sputtering machines have had to improve the control of the deposition process. Greg Blackman looks at the technology involved

Feature

Microscopy made super

25 September 2014

The resolving power of super resolution microscopy is opening up new areas of research in cell biology, as Jessica Rowbury discovers

Feature

Clear future for solar power

25 September 2014

Jessica Rowbury reports on a transparent solar concentrator developed at Michigan State University that could lead the way to putting solar cells on windows or even smart phone screens

August/September 2014

Feature

A safer way to fly

9 September 2014

Optical technologies are being tested that could make air travel safer, while at the same time easing the security regulations at airports. Jessica Rowbury reports

Feature

Going the distance

9 September 2014

With ECOC on the horizon, Tom Eddershaw reports on the latest advances of laser technology for optical communications

Feature

Measuring ripples in space-time

9 September 2014

The European Space Agency is developing a space satellite to measure gravitational waves based on laser interferometry. Greg Blackman speaks to Dr Peter Weßels at Laser Zentrum Hannover, who is designing the fibre amplifier qualification model for the project

July 2014

Feature

Print production for optics

4 July 2014

A 3D printing process for optics could have implications for how optics are designed, manufactured and used, says Greg Blackman

Feature

Something in the air

4 July 2014

Jessica Rowbury looks at the various light-based techniques for monitoring atmospheric pollution

Feature

A test for metrology

4 July 2014

Aspheres and other freeform optics are becoming more commonly used in areas like consumer electronics - but, as these lenses move further away from rotational symmetry, can the metrology equipment to test them cope? Tom Eddershaw finds out

June 2014

Feature

Keeping count of light

3 June 2014

Highly sensitive detectors are enabling techniques like quantum cryptography and forms of fluorescence spectroscopy. Tom Eddershaw investigates the technology for detecting individual photons

Feature

Master of metal

3 June 2014

With Lasys fast approaching, Jessica Rowbury looks at industrial laser processing and finds that solid-state lasers are catching up with CO2 when it comes to cutting thick metals

Feature

Photonic sensor to combat TB

3 June 2014

A lab-on-chip device, being designed as part of a European project, promises to reduce the cost of diagnosing tuberculosis dramatically - and save many lives in the developing world. Greg Blackman speaks to Wim Van Roy at Imec, one of the coordinators of the project

May 2014

Feature

Made to measure

3 May 2014

The rise and rise of LED lighting - and the associated testing - has led to exciting times for photonics company Pro-Lite Technology, as Tim Gillett discovers

Feature

On the hunt for other worlds

3 May 2014

Searching for planets that lie outside the Solar System is adding impetus to astronomical interferometry, a technique that combines the light-gathering capabilities of an array of telescopes. Jessica Rowbury reports

Feature

Lasers in profile

3 May 2014

Greg Blackman gets to grips with the various methods for analysing high-power lasers, including a novel method that calculates power according to the weight of the beam

Feature

Solar research leads to laser discovery

3 May 2014

Perovskites are being tipped as materials that will revolutionise solar power. Now, an Oxbridge team of scientists have used its luminescent properties to make a laser from the mineral. Greg Blackman speaks to Dr Felix Deschler and Michael Price of Cambridge`s Cavendish Laboratory, who worked on the project

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