Optics and Photonics Articles RSS

Picoprojector Technologies: Seeing the Big Picture

Ian Wallhead, Roberto Ocaña, Tomi Jouhti and Vili Sikio — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:32:07 GMT

Picoprojectors seem to offer the impossible: They are as small as a mobile phone with a screen at least as big as a laptop. This article compares four commercial devices.

Sandbow or Rainbow?

Stephen R. Wilk — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:30:44 GMT

Water droplets and ice crystals create beautiful rainbows that paint the sky. Can other natural particles produce similar arcs of color?

Breaking into Academia

Brooke Hester and Hannah Bembia — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:29:10 GMT

One size doesn’t fit all.

Laser Hall-of-Famer: C. Kumar N. Patel

Brielle Day — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:27:37 GMT

The recent U.S. National Inventors Hall of Fame inductee will deliver a plenary talk at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO: 2013), 9-14 June in San Jose, Calif. (U.S.A.).

Combatting Stereotype Threat

Anthony M. Johnson — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:23:41 GMT

Anthony M. Johnson talks about an insidious obstacle for women and minority scientists.

Scatterings

Patricia Daukantas, Yvonne Carts-Powell, Valerie Coffey and Sarah Michaud — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:21:51 GMT

Headliners, policy news and industry updates.

Member News

Hannah Bembia and Sarah Michaud — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:20:10 GMT

Light-Wave Mixing in Quantum Gases

L. Deng, E.W. Hagley, R.Q. Wang and C.W. Clark — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:18:26 GMT

Nonlinear optics has come a long way since the laser. This article reviews recent progress in coherent wave mixing and introduces some new concepts that will reframe future research directions.

ICAN: The Next Laser Powerhouse

Toshiki Tajima, William Brocklesby and Gérard Mourou — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:16:14 GMT

An international team of researchers is looking toward the next frontier of high-energy laser physics: building efficient, high–average-power lasers. With a revolutionary architecture that combines thousands of coherent fibers, the laser being developed under the ICAN project could transform nuclear medicine, detect nuclear waste and form the basis for the next great particle accelerator.

Plasmonic Communications: Light on a Wire

Juerg Leuthold and colleagues — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:13:44 GMT

By coupling light to the charges at metal interfaces, plasmonics enables scientists to manipulate photons in a way they never have before: at the subwavelength level. With its potential to produce ultra-compact devices that relay information almost instantaneously, plasmonics may be the next big—and small—thing in optical communications.

President's Message

Wed, 01 May 2013 11:00:00 GMT

Satyendra Nath Bose and Bose-Einstein Statistics

Barry R. Masters — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 10:19:20 GMT

Although not as well known as his contemporaries, Satyendra Nath Bose was arguably one of the most important scientists in the 20th century. His revolutionary way of viewing photon behavior and photon statistics—later known as Bose statistics—changed the field in a dramatic way.

A Broadening Vision for Adaptive Optics

Lynn Savage — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 10:18:00 GMT

Traditionally, adaptive optics has been used to improve telescope optics. However, wavefront correction techniques have also given researchers novel ways of exploring human vision and enhancing microscopy techniques.

The Tiniest Traps: Optical Manipulation Gets Smaller

Valerie Coffey — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 10:16:18 GMT

Arthur Ashkin ushered in the field of optical manipulation more than 40 years ago. Today, smaller and smaller tools, such as optical “nanotweezers” and precisely focused lasers, are becoming practical for controlling single cells, individual proteins, DNA and even the behavior of worms.

OSA Foundation: Thank you to 2012 donors.

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 10:00:54 GMT

Member News

Hannah Bembia and Sarah Michaud — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 09:57:58 GMT

My Research Life in Canada: A Tale of Two Labs

Ming Li — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 09:52:59 GMT

Ming Li describes his experiences working in two of Canada’s leading photonics research groups.

Tractor Beams Revisited

Stephen R. Wilk — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 09:50:24 GMT

Apart from micro-scale optical tweezers, tractor beams have been considered nothing more than the stuff of sci-fi fantasy. Time to think again …

Read to Succeed

Milton Chang — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 09:48:29 GMT

Four business publications recommended by Milton Chang.

Scatterings

Patricia Daukantas, Yvonne Carts-Powell, Valerie Coffey and Sarah Michaud — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 09:40:50 GMT

Headliners, policy news and industry updates.