Filming Photons, One Million Times A Second

October 7, 2009
Researchers have created a CMOS (semiconductor) camera capable of filming individual photons one million times a second.
The scientists wanted to create the fastest, highest resolution CMOS (semiconductor) video camera, but to do that they needed to choose an ultra-fast photo detector. They also needed to choose between two competing timing mechanisms or stopwatches, [...]

Nobel In Physics: Creators Of Optical Fiber Communication And CCD Image Sensor

October 6, 2009
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2009 with one half to Charles K. Kao, Standard Telecommunication Laboratories, Harlow, UK, and Chinese University of Hong Kong “for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication”, and the other half jointly [...]

Lasers Generate Underwater Sound: Potential For Naval And Commercial Underwater Acoustic Applications

September 4, 2009
Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory are developing a new technology for use in underwater acoustics. The new technology uses flashes of laser light to remotely create underwater sound. The new acoustic source has the potential to expand and improve both Naval and commercial underwater acoustic applications, including undersea communications, navigation, and acoustic [...]

New Optical Forces Revealed

July 27, 2009
The University of Ghent (UGent) and the nanoelectronics research center IMEC demonstrated repulsive and attractive nanophotonic forces, depending on the spatial distribution of the light used. These fundamental research results might have major consequences for telecommunication and optical signal processing.
Photon impulse is usually considered to be relatively weak. In our macroscopic world, photons [...]