Keyword: Fiber optics

Stories

R&D: Medical
The sensors have already been used to monitor the curvature of structures and robotic arms. But measuring both the magnitude and direction of the spine’s curvature presents an additional challenge.
Feature Image
R&D: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Scientists have designed tiny smart bed sensors embedded in hospital mattresses could put an end to painful and potentially life-threatening pressure sores, thanks to new technology. The...

Feature Image
Briefs: Test & Measurement
The results from tests on animal brain tissues suggest it could help clinicians to better monitor both disease progression and patients’ response to treatment than is currently possible.
Feature Image
Briefs: Test & Measurement
The device infuses antibodies through the miniature fiber to the tumor to activate T cells around tumor cells.
Feature Image
R&D: Imaging
An optomechanical ultrasound sensor on a silicon photonic chip provides unprecedented sensitivity due to an innovative optomechanical waveguide.
Feature Image
Briefs: Wearables
The fibers measure subtle and complex fabric deformations.
Feature Image
Briefs: Medical

Optical fibers make the Internet happen. They are fine threads of glass, as thin as a human hair, produced to transmit light. Optical fibers carry thousands of gigabits of...

Feature Image
Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Researchers have developed an endoscope as thin as a human hair that can image the activity of neurons in the brains of living mice. Because it is so thin, the endoscope can reach...

Feature Image
Features: Medical

Optical fibers. To the average person, the phrase might conjure up an image of glowing hairs twisted artistically into a beautiful...

Feature Image
R&D: Medical

To treat newborns for treat, the babies lie in incubators. Irradiation with blue light in an incubator is necessary because toxic decomposition products of the blood pigment hemoglobin are deposited in the...

Feature Image
Briefs: Photonics/Optics

A new type of pressure sensor is based on micro-optomechanical systems (MOMS) technology. Developed by imec, a research and innovation hub focusing...

Feature Image
Features: Medical

Infrared surgical lasers, e.g., CTH:YAG @ 2100 nm and TM:YAG @ 2000 nm, are wonderful tools for minimally invasive surgery such as laser vaporization of hyperplastic prostate...

Feature Image
Features: Medical

Fiber-optic curvature sensing has great potential for a number of medical and industrial applications because alternative solutions are practically nonexistent, at...

Feature Image
Briefs: Medical

What if there were a wearable fitness device that could monitor your blood pressure continuously, 24 hours a day? Unfortunately, blood pressure measurements currently require the use of a...

Feature Image
Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Glass fibers do everything from connecting us to the Internet to enabling keyhole surgery by delivering light through an endoscope. But as versatile as today’s fiber optics are,...

Feature Image
R&D: Robotics, Automation & Control
Imaging System Features 'Optical Brush'

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab have developed a new imaging device that consists of a loose bundle of optical fibers; no lenses or protective housing are needed. Tight bundles of the fibers could yield endoscopes with narrower diameters.

Features: Medical

Many of today’s medical applications use high-quality silica optical fiber. Because a broad range of optical fibers is available to serve this market, users must carefully choose the...

Feature Image
Briefs: Medical
Tiny LEDs light up neural pathways.

A team of researchers at the University of Michigan (U-M), Ann Arbor, are using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as small as neurons to begin to unlock the secrets of neural...

Feature Image
Applications: Photonics/Optics

Researchers have developed a novel monitoring system using optoacoustic technology to provide accurate, real-time measurement of cerebral venous blood oxygen saturation in fetuses during...

Feature Image
Features: Medical

Hard to believe another year is nearly over. 2016 is just around the corner. Another election year, and that will bring many changes, we can be certain. A new president and a new Congress could substantially impact the...

Feature Image
Technology Leaders: Medical

Portable and wearable healthcare devices represent growing, high volume markets for the medtech industry. Patient monitors are evolving from stationary...

Feature Image
Features: Medical

One of the most prevalent measurement devices in a medical balloon or catheter manufacturing facility is the micrometer gauge. It is simple and inexpensive. But, this...

Feature Image
R&D: Medical

A team of mechanical and materials engineers at Duke University, Durham, NC, have devised a way to improve the efficiency of lithotripsy—the crushing of kidney stones using focused shock...

Feature Image
Technology Leaders: Regulations/Standards

Every day, medical device manufacturers are getting better and better at managing risk. They know they have to. Changes have been introduced into international regulatory schemes that impact device design...

Feature Image
R&D: Medical

When heartbeats slip into an irregular, life-threatening rhythm, a pacemaker or defibrillator can jolt the heart back into rhythm. But because electricity can cause pain, tissue damage, and other side-effects, a...

Feature Image
R&D: Medical
First Thought-Controlled Bionic Leg Revealed

A team of researchers at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago has revealed clinical applications for the world’s first thought-controlled bionic vleg—a...

Feature Image
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Plastic Optic Fiber (POF) is an established, continually evolving technology available since the early 1980s. From the outset, it was a technology not highly visible for years. At times, it was...

Feature Image
R&D: Photonics/Optics

Scientists at the University of Washington, Seattle, say that for less than $100, they have designed a computer-interfaced drawing pad that can help scientists see inside the brains of...

Feature Image
R&D: Electronics & Computers
Student Device May Help Avoid Repeated Breast Cancer Surgeries

During a lumpectomy, surgeons can’t immediately tell whether all the cancer cells were removed. The excised tissue must be preserved and analyzed...

Feature Image

Ask the Expert

Eric Dietsch on the Benefits of Nitinol Wire
Feature Image

In collaboration with the Fort Wayne Metals Engineering team, Eric Dietsch focuses on supporting customers with material recommendations, product development, and education. Eric is available to help you and your company with any Nitinol-related questions or needs that you may have.

Inside Story

Rapid Precision Prototyping Program Speeds Medtech Product Development

Rapid prototyping technologies play an important role in supporting new product development (NPD) by companies that are working to bring novel and innovative products to market. But in advanced industries where products often make use of multiple technologies, and where meeting a part’s exacting tolerances is essential, speed without precision is rarely enough. In such advanced manufacturing—including the medical device and surgical robotics industries — the ability to produce high-precision prototypes early in the development cycle can be critical for meeting design expectations and bringing finished products to market efficiently.