July/August

Artist’s interpretation of an automobile with CMOS-based vision sensors. Illustration by Phil Saunders, spacechannel.org.

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Vision Sensors in Automobiles: An Indian Perspective

Mukul Sarkar

Traffic accidents kill more people than most diseases—and the roads in India are among the most dangerous in the world. CMOS-based vision sensors could help save lives by extending drivers’ sight far beyond their mirrors and headlights, enabling them to react more quickly to potential hazards.

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Light Pollution: The Problem and the Possible Solutions

Patricia Daukantas

Over the past quarter-century, scientists have become increasingly aware of the problems that light pollution causes for astronomers, migrating birds and human health and safety. Finding effective means to reduce the effects will take the combined efforts of research scientists, lighting engineers, architects, city planners, businesspeople and homeowners.

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Beyond the Beam: A History of Multidimensional Lasers

Zoltán György Horváth

For the past half century, both scientists and the public have come to think of lasers as producing line-like beams. Yet there’s nothing about the laser that requires light emission to occur in a single dimension. Though initially forgotten and ignored, multidimensional lasers may define the next era of the technology’s evolution.

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Albert Einstein and the Nature of Light

Barry R. Masters

Einstein’s genius lay in his ability to bridge the gap between radiation in space and radiation-matter interactions. He explained the interaction between light and matter by the absorption and emission of light quanta, thereby explaining several perplexing physical phenomena.