Laser guide star for tracking space junk, developed by Electro Optic Systems together with the Australian National University. Credit: Electro Optic Systems
Benjamin Skuse explores photonics-based efforts to track, and possibly even remove, debris from the very crowded region of near-Earth space
Sydney Institute for Astronomy researchers have developed a new type of wavefront sensor that leverages a ‘photonic lantern’ and deep learning. (Norris et al.)
Researchers have developed a wavefront sensor using a ‘photonic lantern’ that could optimise humanity’s viewing of the cosmos
Keely Portway looks at how adaptive optics have allowed ground-based telescopes to observe new phenomena, including finer details of the Sun
Shaping light wavefronts is improving many areas of microscopy – and is enabling Nobel Prize winner Eric Betzig’s most important work yet, finds Andy Extance
A Harvard Research team led by Nobel laureate Eric Betzig has developed a microscope that combines lattice light-sheet microscopy with adaptive optics to capture 3D images and videos of cells inside living organisms in high resolution
The stringent requirements for ground and space-based telescopes are driving the development of innovative materials and optical systems, Matthew Dale reports
An adaptive optics system, which has been more than a decade in the making, has seen first light as part of the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope on the Cerro Paranal mountain in Chile
The European Extremely Large Telescope project is well underway, and is stretching the capabilities of the optical industry, as Matthew Dale discovers
Georgia State University's Centre for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) and the French company Alpao have signed a contract for the development of an adaptive optics upgrade for the CHARA Array, the largest optical interferometer array in the world
Rachel Berkowitz looks at the photonics technology being developed for probing the universe, which in turn is leading to better commercial products
Professor Paul Shore led the team that micromachined the complex mirrors within James Webb’s mid-infrared instrument. He chats about the technical lessons learnt
EMF invested a great deal of time and effort in developing a coating system for producing long-lasting diamond like carbon (DLC) coatings on chalcogenides at scale
The properties of chalcogenide glass optics have opened up a number of use cases in infrared optics applications and beyond. This article assesses how some of the associated manufacturing and handling challenges of this material can be overcome
Image credit: Yury Zap/Shutterstock.com
We detail the commercial offerings from some of the main players in optical mirrors
Image credit: Mia Stendal/Shutterstock.com
Shining a light on the latest products and solutions in the diode laser space
Optical technologies offer researchers a powerful new toolkit to explore the structure and function of the brain. (Image: Sergey Nivens/Shutterstock.com)
Advances in optical fibres and microscale LEDs are furthering neuroscientists’ understanding of the brain
The nulling interferometry devices under development at Caltech’s Exoplanet Technology Laboratory cancel out starlight to help detect and identify foreign worlds. (Credit: Shutterstock/Dotted Yeti)
Nemanja Jovanovic, lead instrument scientist at Caltech’s Optical Observatory and Exoplanet Technology Laboratory, on emerging astrophotonic technologies on his radar
Robert Smith is a professor at the University of Alberta and historian to JWST since 2002
As James Webb Space Telescope beams back images from the edge of space and time, space historian Robert Smith recalls some of the decisions made to bring the $10bn NASA project to fruition. David Stuart reports
