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Aden Meinel: Astronomer, Optical Scientist, Founder and Scholar

Kristin Waller

Aden Meinel was the founding director of the University of Arizona Optical Sciences Center and the Kitt Peak National Observatory. With his wife and research partner, Marjorie, he also developed next-generation space-telescope concepts and pioneered the use of solar energy. more>>

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Freeform Optical Surfaces: Report from OSA’s First Incubator Meeting

Kevin P. Thompson, Pablo Benítez and Jannick P. Rolland

Just as business incubator programs are designed to support the development of fledgling companies, OSA’s new incubator meeting series is structured to encourage the growth of exciting new areas within optics. The first one was devoted to the topic of freeform optics—a field that is actively evolving due to recent technological advances. more>>

Graphene Used to Make Sensitive Photon Detector

Yvonne Carts-Powell

Researchers have developed a bolometer using bilayer graphene with a bandgap tuned by electric fields. more>>

Making an RGB Laser from Quantum Dots

Yvonne Carts-Powell

Researchers at Brown University (U.S.A.) create a single-material laser that provides red, green or blue laser light. more>>

Nanotubes Soak Up the Near-Infrared Sun

Patricia Daukantas

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (U.S.A.) have devised an all-carbon, near-infrared photovoltaic cell filled with single-walled nanotubes. more>>

Quantum Computing Closer to Practical

Yvonne Carts-Powell

In a development that brings practical quantum computers closer to reality, a team of researchers demonstrated that they could create heralded single photons from a CMOS-compatible silicon chip operating at room temperature in the near-infrared. more>>

Tabletop Supercontinuum X-Ray Source

Patricia Daukantas

An international team of scientists has developed a tabletop device that produces coherent bursts of shortwavelength radiation. more>>

Career Focus

Graduate-Level Internships in Industry

Hannah Bembia

Industry internships can give graduate students a valuable learning experience that is quite different from their work in academia. more>>

Education

What Can a Student Chapter Accomplish in Five Years? A lot!

Alberto Lencina

On the fifth anniversary of the CIOp-UNLP OSA/SPIE student chapter, a founding member looks back on its accomplishments and encourages others to start a chapter at their own university. more>>

Global Optics

Optics Research in the Russian Suburbs

Sergey Chekalin

Russia is known as a global leader in optics research. What’s surprising is the amount of cutting-edge research being conducted outside major city centers. Sergey Chekalin refl ects on the history of optics in Russia and describes his experience working on new optics technologies at Troitsk’s Institute of Spectroscopy more>>

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Opportunities and Trends in Optoelectronic Manufacturing

Ganesh Gopalakrishnan

A recent workshop organized by the Optoelectronics Industry Development Association (OIDA) highlighted key challenges and opportunities facing photonics manufacturers today. more>>

Optical Engineering

Filtering Wavefront Maps Improves Uncertainty Estimates

Brian Hart

Wavefront maps typically contain both relevant and non-relevant information. Removing the extraneous data helps engineers to estimate uncertainties more accurately. more>>

Reflections in Diversity

A Formula for Success

Renetta G. Tull and Damon L. Tull

Scientists often struggle with how to improve diversity in their field, in part because the problem seems overwhelmingly complex and multi-faceted. Here we attempt to lead women, minorities and others toward success using the tool that many physicists love best: the equation. more>>

Viewpoint

Reflecting on Career/Life Balance

Jannick Rolland

As our lifestyles become more complex, all of us—whether men or women—must develop strategies to balance our career with our personal lives. more>>

Conversations in Optics