Laser Technology

FAMES Pilot Line is the leading initiative under the European Chips Act, and it’s helping advance Europe’s semiconductor technologies. In this episode of Following the Photons, FAMES coordinator Dominique Noguet talks with host Justine Murphy about the initiative and related educational training programs, as well as its role in Europe’s ever-advancing semiconductor industry.  Following the […]

Dual-comb spectroscopy combines high spectral resolution, broad spectral coverage, and short acquisition times. While the approach is known for its strengths within the infrared (IR) spectral region, the UV spectral region remains somewhat underexplored because of the lack of direct frequency comb sources. But the UV spectral region “is extremely important, and our device lets

In this episode of Photonics Hot List: Researchers at the University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics have developed a solar-thermal process for turning ocean water into fresh drinking water, using little energy and no chemical additives. Business news roundup: Optics manufacturer Zeiss is reporting slow sales, while Corning, in a deal with Amazon, will add new

On-chip ultrafast laser design The laser is essentially constructed from a piece of erbium-doped silicon nitride waveguide sandwiched between two Bragg gratings, pumped with (currently) off-chip 1480-nm continuous-wave diodes. “Using the Mamyshev oscillator concept, the two gratings are deliberately offset in wavelength so continuous-wave lasing can’t be sustained,” explains Qiu. “No single wavelength is reflected

In this second of a two-part series featuring Giacomo Vacca, founder/president/CEO of Kinetic River, he talks with host Justine Murphy about the biophotonics-centric company, its history, and innovations, as well as what they’re working on now, what the future holds, and Kinetic River’s place in it. Following the Photons: A Photonics Podcast dives deep into

Using optical fiber as on-chip waveguides results in ultralow signal loss comparable to that of optical fiber at visible wavelengths. “For decades, optical fiber has achieved extraordinarily low propagation loss using germanium-doped silica,” says postdoctoral scholar Hao-Jing Chen, who co-led the research with Kellan Colburn, a Ph.D. student. But PICs have struggled to reach comparable

In this episode of Photonics Hot List: Conventional optical encryption systems that rely on commercial detectors to capture images are vulnerable. But now, researchers at the University of Hong Kong are developing technology that doubles as a decryption key. Business news roundup: Light Conversion is strengthening its global position in the advanced ultrafast technology market

Spin-orbit interactions of light Spin-orbit interactions of light “are usually associated with tight focusing, interfaces, anisotropic media, or nanostructures,” says Forbes. “In these cases, the spin and orbital degrees of freedom become coupled because the beam interacts strongly with a lens, a surface, or a material.” One surprising part for the team was seeing a

In an advance for photonic integrated circuits (PICs), Stéphane Kéna-Cohen and his team at Polytechnique Montréal in Canada recently fabricated waveguides for frequency doubling using an organic thin film—based on triphenylamine-dicyanoquinoxaline, a.k.a. TPA-QCN—that strongly interacts with light. This class of materials may help lessen AI’s energy load on data centers because it can be placed

In this episode of Photonics Hot List: A new optical sensor, about as small as a grain of rice, is poised to upend traditional electronics with its ability to detect and measure physical motion, potentially advancing robotic and medical devices via light. A Silicon Valley chip foundry is expanding its presence in photonics with the