December 2011

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Optics in 2011

Panel Chair: R.D. Guenther; Guest Editors: J. Dawes, C. Lopez-Mariscal, B. Jopson, E. Silaeva and J. Zavislan

This special issue of OPN highlights the most exciting peer-reviewed optics research to have emerged over the past 12 months.

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Bio-Optics

The diffusion of light allows biologists to study tissue at various depths below the surface of a person’s skin. One novel development is the construction of a biological laser from a single cell.

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Detection

A key component in any optical system is the detector that is used to transform light into a measurement.

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Diffraction

Microstructured optical fibers constitute a versatile platform for developing novel optofluidic, sensing and actuating devices—bringing together photonics and microfluidics.

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Imaging

Spectral imaging is particularly important in the biosciences. Raman scattering provides unique spectral signatures that can be used in the study of cell chemistry.

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Interferometry

A key optical tool for metrology allows us to use a ruler calibrated in wavelengths of light.

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Nonlinear Optics

Nonlinear optics allows us to generate sources in new spectral regions and to provide increased signal propagation capability.

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We have learned how to construct ordered index-of-refraction-modulated structures that allow us to control the propagation of light. Initially, researchers were simply interested in fabrication; now they are exploring limitations in the structures.

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Plasmonics

Surface plasmons have the unique capacity to confine light to very small dimensions, but the losses that occur when they propagate have limited their utility.

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Quantum Optics

Exciting work is being done in quantum information theory and the detection of low light levels.

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Terahertz

The atmosphere is nearly opaque at wavelengths from the far-infrared to the millimeter wave, but there are applications that work around this restriction.

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Transformation Optics

A new design concept for optical devices comes from the mathematical view of space-time in general relativity. The desired optical path is determined by coordinate transformations.