Optics/​Photonics

A research team at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, Seattle, WA, has pioneered a new way, called Virtual Finger, to navigate digital 3D images of tiny structures like neurons and synapses using the flat surface of their computer screens. This cost- and time-efficient technology,...

A research team at the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin has created a new nonlinear metasurface, or meta mirror, that may help advance the miniaturization of laser systems for biomedical research and other applications.

A study conducted by Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, successfully used a new tool to help brain surgeons test and more precisely remove cancerous tissue during surgery.

A collaborative team of UK scientists from the School of Computing and Communications at Lancaster University, along with Microsoft Research, Guy's Hospital, St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, and King's College London has done pioneering research in touchless technology for vascular surgery.

Portable, optical brain imaging for concussion was evaluated by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences. They say this is the first step toward demonstrating its use on patients.

A team of researchers from Rice University, Houston, TX, and The Methodist Hospital Research Institute say that submicroscopic particles containing even smaller particles of iron oxide could make magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) a far more powerful tool to detect and fight disease. They created composite...

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, say that they have demonstrated a technique for producing, detecting, and controlling ultrahigh frequency sound waves at the nanometer scale. Through a combination of...

Researchers at Stanford University say that they used electrical stimulation of retinal cells to produce the same patterns of activity that occur when the retina sees a moving object. They say that this is a step toward restoring natural, high-fidelity vision to blind people.

Using precarious particles called polaritons that straddle the worlds of light and matter, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, researchers have demonstrated a new, practical and potentially more efficient way to make a coherent laser-like beam. They say that their first-time polariton laser is fueled by...

Augmented reality is quickly becoming more integrated into everyday usage, such as smartphone apps that can identify landmarks, constellations, and more. Head-worn goggles, like Google Glass can superimpose computer-generated images onto your direct view of the physical world. But, moving your eyes back...

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD, say that they have built and demonstrated a chip-scale device that both produces and detects a specialized gas used in biomedical analysis and medical imaging. The new microfluidic chip produces polarized (or...

A droplet of clear liquid can bend light, acting as a lens. Now, by exploiting this well-known phenomenon, Australian researchers have developed a new process to create inexpensive high quality lenses that will cost less than a penny apiece.

A team of researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, has developed two inexpensive adapters that enable a smartphone to capture high-quality images of the front and back of the eye. The adapters can allow anyone with minimal training to take a picture of the eye and share it securely...

A team of scientists from Nanjing University in China and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is exploring the use of metamaterials to create devices that manipulate sound in versatile and unprecedented ways. This was reported in the journal, Applied Physics Letters.

Engineers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee first discovered a new way to propagate multiple beams of light through a single strand of optical fiber. Now, they say that their unique fiber architecture can transmit images of comparable or better quality than commercial endoscopy imaging...

A team of physics researchers at the University of Adelaide, Australia, say that they have developed a new type of laser that will enable advances in areas as diverse as breath analysis for disease diagnosis and remote sensing of critical greenhouse gases.

A team of graduate students along with a chemistry professor at Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, say that they have invented a new scientific instrument—the world’s first fully automated dual-frequency, two-dimensional infrared spectrometer.

Silk and diamonds are the ingredients for a new kind of tiny glowing particle that could provide researchers with a novel technique for biological imaging and drug delivery. The particles, just tens of nanometers across, are made of nanodiamonds covered in silk.