Optics news from across the web

The explorer's terrible health and vehement opposition to slavery are clear in letters enhanced by multispectral imaging

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Imagine printing your own room lighting, lasers, or solar cells from inks you buy at the local newsagent. Jacek Jasieniak and his colleagues at CSIRO, the University of Melbourne and the University of Padua in Italy, have moved a step closer to such a future, by developing liquid inks based on quantum dots that can be used to print devices.(author unknown)04911930513344867207

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory have developed new laser-machining techniques for radiation detectors. "The new detectors will enable the next generation of space-based high-energy radiation astronomical research and might also be used for homeland security applications," explains Dr. Bernard Phlips, who heads the NRL team.(author unknown)

Berkeley researchers have combined the scientific fields of transformation optics and plasmonics to demonstrate that with only moderate modifications of the dielectric component of a metamaterial, the physical space through which light travels can be altered with promising results, such as the creation of a 180 degree bend that won’t alter the energy or properties of a light beam as it makes the U-turn, or a plasmonic version of a Luneburg lens.lcyarris

Laser experiment upholds a key principle of modern physics(author unknown)07351481305907052319

Researchers suggest an optical processing method that could lead to faster telecommunications.

Using all-optical controls could speed the transmission of telecommunications data, but optical switches that can work at high bandwidths need a lot of energy to turn on and off. So the usual approach is that telecom providers deploy systems that convert light into electrical signals to process the data, then back into light for transmission.

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(Society of Nuclear Medicine) A study published in the July issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine reports on investigative research of a novel optical imaging technique called "Cerenkov luminescence imaging." According to the authors, the technique could lead to the faster and more cost-effective development of radiopharmaceuticals for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other conditions.(author unknown)

Aggressively expanding the electric grid in Africa, Asia and South America is unrealistic, at least in the near future. Yet there are possible solutions, like a solar light bulb recently unveiled by Nokero, a Hong Kong-based manufacturer.

By JOHN COLLINS RUDOLF03540719090861000481

Tuning a little-known parameter optimizes plasmonic crystal biosensors for biomedical and environment applications.(author unknown)

In August, Osram Sylvania will introduce an LED lamp that it hopes will take a share of the market for incandescent bulbs.

By MATTHEW L. WALD

Results of new study should help in the design of more sophisticated photovoltaics.(author unknown)

Structural colour of Papilio blumei recreated in the lab.(author unknown)

A new method will reduce the cost and complexity of manufacturing.

A simplified process for printing polymer solar cells could further reduce the costs of making the plastic photovoltaics. The method, which has been demonstrated on a large-area, roll-to-roll printing system, eliminates steps in the manufacturing process. If it can be applied to a wide range of polymer materials, it could lead to a fast and cheap way to make plastic solar cells for such applications as portable electronics, photovoltaics integrated into building materials, and smart fabrics.

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Physicists find more efficient way to store quantum informationscinews@sciencenews.org (Science News)06895901311131064546

When light is used to transmit information, well established techniques of optical tele-communications are available: modulated light pulses travel along optical fibers, be-come weaker due to optical attenuation in the fiber and are “refreshed” in signal regen-eration stations along the way, where the signals are amplified and filtered. This goal becomes more demanding when the light itself – or more precisely, its optical frequency – is the information, and when this information is to be transmitted with extreme preci-sion. Here conventional amplification techniques reach their limits. Three researchers at PTB have now found an elegant solution: they employ so-called fiber Brillouin amplifi-cation, which is closely related to stimulated Brillouin scattering. The researchers inject pump light with a well-defined frequency into the far end of the fiber, so that the pump light travels in the opposite direction to the signal light, generating sound waves (acous-tic phonons) in the glass fiber. The sound waves in turn scatter the pump light, enabling the existing signal photons to stimulate the emission of many more signal photons: thus a photon avalanche is created, which is kept going by the sound waves, and brings the fre-quency information to the remote end of the optical fiber with extremely small losses and very high precision. The PTB researchers have already demonstrated this tech-nique on a 480 km optical fiber link: the relative measurement uncertainty they achieved is equivalent to a deviation of one second in 16 billion years. Now they plan to span even larger distances. The new method simplifies the comparison of newly devel-oped optical clocks, which possess such a high frequency stability that traditional meth-ods for frequency and time comparison via satellite are no longer sufficient. The tech-nique is likely to have applications in other areas where precise synchronisation is needed, for example in radio astronomy. Experts in geodesy have already approached the PTB researchers with suggestions for joint projects.(author unknown)

The remarkable ability of an electron to exist in two places at once has been controlled in the most common electronic material – silicon - for the first time. The research findings - published in Nature by a UK-Dutch team from the University of Surrey, UCL (University College) London, Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, and the FOM Institute for Plasma Physics near Utrecht - marks a significant step towards the making of an affordable "quantum computer".(author unknown)

(American Institute of Physics) Currently, most liquid crystal technologies rely on physical or chemical manipulation, such as rubbing in one direction, to align molecules in a preferred direction. In an important advance, scientists at the Tokyo Institute of Technology have created a stable, rewritable memory device that exploits a liquid crystal property called the "anchoring transition." The work is described in the latest issue of the Journal of Applied Physics, which is published by the American Institute of Physics(author unknown)

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of Michigan have achieved a long sought-after optics phenomenon that could lead to more efficient and flexible lasers for telecommunications and quantum computing applications, among other uses.(author unknown)0020938709891187856904911930513344867207

Pulsed red light forces tumour cells to "suck in" drugs from their environment.(author unknown)

(University of Texas at Austin) Conventional solar cell efficiency could be increased from the current limit of 30 percent to more than 60 percent, suggests new research on semiconductor nanocrystals, or quantum dots, led by chemist Xiaoyang Zhu at the University of Texas at Austin.(author unknown)