Computer-controlled motorized mirror mounts enable rapid realignment of beam-steering optics between discharges at Sandia National Labs' Z machine.

The unprecedented increase in peak laser powers in recent years has pushed the boundaries of Ti:sapphire crystal-growth technology.

Strides are being made to extend the sensitivity of organic photodiodes into the infrared region for solar energy, communications, and imaging applications that can take advantage of their low-cost, low-temperature processing, and compatibility with flexible and large-area substrates.

Coherent transmission, phase-shift keying multiple bits per modulation interval, and polarization multiplexing combine to transmit an impressive 100 Gbit/s through a 50 GHz optical channel on step-index single-mode fiber.

Compared to the relatively slow acquisition speed and high phototoxicity of traditional confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), a new technology called swept field confocal (SFC) uses optics to split the excitation laser into multiple beams for improved live cell imaging studies.

X6D Limited (Ljubljana, Slovenia and Los Angeles, CA) has introduced active-shutter liquid-crystal-display (LCD)-based viewing glasses that communicate via wireless Bluetooth with high-definition 3D televisions.

In a photonic-crystal (PC) waveguide switch developed by scientists at Michigan Technological University, Integrated Photonics, and the Russian Academy of Sciences, the photonic bandgap is controlled magnetically, allowing switching via an external electromagnet.

With a negative refractive index, a planar slab "superlens" can image features below the diffraction limit by recovering evanescent waves as well as ordinary free-space light waves.

A polymer photodetector with a photoresponse that is voltage-adjustable from the visible to the near-IR range has been created by researchers at the National Tsing Hua University and the National Chiao Tung University.

Researchers have begun using the 192 laser beams of the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to implode spherical fusion capsules.

The race is on for high-bit-rate data and telecommunications transmission with low power consumption.

Large-scale integration of electronics with photonics on silicon chips will eventually make optical communications possible not just between computers, but inside them as well.

When I saw three satellites traverse the sky one evening in a triangular formation, I thought I had seen a UFO.

Interest in optical nanofibers (loosely defined as fibers with outer diameters of 1 µm or less) is growing.

Concentrating photovoltaic systems use low-cost optics to focus sunlight onto smaller, high-efficiency semiconductor PV cells, compared to flat-plate silicon or thin-film PV designs.

Motion control in laboratory optics and photonics setups typically means using a screw or micrometer for motions in the millimeters-to-microns range, with piezoelectric actuators used for micron-to-nanometer movements.