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Briefs

Electronics & Computers

Could Metasurfaces Be The Next Quantum Information Processors?

Optics researchers in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have created specially designed metasurfaces — flat devices etched with nanoscale light-manipulating patterns — to act as ultra-thin upgrades for quantum-optical chips and setups. Read on to learn more.

Application Briefs

Photonics/Optics

A New Record for Optical Power Beaming

DARPA recognized the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory during their POWER Phase 2 Industry Day, for contributions to the Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay program, which shattered existing records for optical power beaming over distance. Read on to learn more.

Articles

Photonics/Optics

Microcomb Chips Could Improve Accuracy of GPS Systems

The optical atomic clocks that exist today are bulky and require complex laboratories with specific laser settings and optical components, making it difficult to use them outside lab environments, such as in satellites, remote research stations, or drones. Now, a research team has developed a technology that makes optical atomic clocks significantly smaller and accessible for more widespread use in society. Read on to learn more.

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Electronics & Computers

Microsoft, PsiQuantum Designing Quantum Computer Prototypes for DARPA US2QC Program

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected Microsoft and PsiQuantum to move to the final design stage of its Underexplored Systems...

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Manufacturing & Prototyping

Using Squeezed Light to Develop Sensors That Defy Defense Limits

Raytheon’s BBN Technologies is developing next-generation, compact, low-power, deployable photonic sensors that will provide users with better awareness of environmental...

Articles

Communications

Everyday Life, Improved by Light: GRYPHON’s Photonic Discoveries

GRYPHON will leverage recent developments in nonlinear photonics and photonic-electronic integration to develop microwave sources with noise performance that meets or exceeds that of the best discrete oscillator modules. Read on to learn more about the endeavor.

Briefs

Manufacturing & Prototyping

Researchers Demonstrate the First Chip-Based 3D Printer

Imagine a portable 3D printer you could hold in the palm of your hand. Researchers took a major step toward making this idea a reality by demonstrating the first chip-based 3D printer. The prototype chip has no moving parts, instead relying on an array of tiny optical antennas to steer a beam of light. Read on to learn more.

Briefs

Photonics/Optics

NRL Research Physicists Explore Fiber Optic Computing Using Distributed Feedback

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) researchers have outlined a novel contribution in fiber optics computing in a paper recently published in Communications Physics Journal that brings the Navy one step closer to faster, more efficient computing technologies.

Application Briefs

Aerospace

Quantum Sensing Atomic Gyroscope

The Defense Science Board identified three areas of quantum technology that will be most relevant to the DoD's technological superiority: sensing, encryption, and communications.

Briefs

Imaging

Spatial Calibration for Accurate Long Distance Measurement Using Infrared Cameras

All commercially available camera systems have lenses (and internal geometries) that cannot perfectly refract light waves and refocus them onto a two-dimensional (2D) image sensor. This means that all digital images contain elements of distortion and thus are not a true representation of the real world.

Briefs

Photonics/Optics

Towards Greater Sensitivity: A Brief FTIR and Infrared-Based Cavity Ring Down Spectroscopy Comparative Study

Cavity Ring-Down spectroscopy (CRDS) is a newer IR absorption-based technique made possible by the use of tunable pulsed lasers. Rather than using a broadband (blackbody) emitter as is done with traditional IR techniques, a pulsed laser is tuned across wavelengths into an optical cavity.

Briefs

Photonics/Optics

Determining Optical Material Parameters With Motion in Structured Illumination

Ellipsometry measures the amplitude ratio and the phase difference between polarized light reflected from the surface of a film and determines the refractive index or thickness by fitting the experimental data to an optical model that represents an approximated sample structure.

Briefs

RF & Microwave Electronics

Deep Image Prior Amplitude SAR Image Anonymization

Synthetic Aperture Radar images are a powerful tool for studying the Earth’s surface. They are radar signals generated by an imaging system mounted on a platform such as an aircraft or satellite. As the platform moves, the system emits sequentially high-power electromagnetic waves through its antenna.

Briefs

Photonics/Optics

Free-Space Quantum Communications in Harsh Environments

The project aims to explore the possibility of all-weather secure quantum communication using macroscopic quantum states of light.

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Aerospace

Euclid Space Telescope Begins Mission to Study Dark Energy and Matter

ESA’s Euclid spacecraft lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, on July 1, 2023. The successful launch marks the...

Briefs

Photonics/Optics

On the Pulsed Laser Ablation of Metals and Semiconductors

The fundamental goal of this research is to build from a broad set of experimental and theoretical data to a narrower set of scaling relations, heuristics, and trends that provide a roadmap for understanding laser ablation across relevant regimes.

Articles

Photonics/Optics

Designing A/D Converters for the James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has four infrared cameras to view the stars.

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Test & Measurement

Air Force Expands Missile Signature Characterization Capabilities

The Advanced Missile Signature Center of the 718th Test Squadron, 804th Test Group, Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC), has been helping the Department of Defense...

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Weapons Systems

Researchers Test Cooling Solutions for Directed Energy Weapons

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Directed Energy Directorate recently signed a five-year Strategic Education Partnership Agreement (EPA) with New Mexico State University...

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Test & Measurement

New Technology Demonstrated During Arctic Exercise

During a multi-service exercise, the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) successfully demonstrated a...

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Sensors/Data Acquisition

Optical Flow Visualization Applied to Jet Engine Testing

Working together with a local business and academic professionals at the University of Tennessee Space Institute, Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) team members at Arnold...

Briefs

Sensors/Data Acquisition

Multimode Optical Fiber Sensing

Although a vast majority of fiber optic strain sensors use single mode fiber, multimode fiber has a higher nonlinear threshold that enables higher light levels and lower noise.

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Data Acquisition

Research Could Lead to Noise Reduction in Aircraft Engines

Through a Small Business Innovative Research contract awarded to MetroLaser, Inc., by the U.S. Navy, a system is being developed to measure the gas velocity of engine exhaust to...

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Imaging

Mounted Troops to Get High-Tech Situational Awareness Tools

Mounted armored vehicles such as the Bradley have long been used as heavy weapons platforms with long range sensors to hunt targets and provide armored transportation to dismounted...

Briefs

Energy

Technique Merges Solar Cell and Liquid Battery

A highly efficient and long-lasting solar flow battery generates, stores, and redelivers renewable electricity from the Sun in one device.

Briefs

RF & Microwave Electronics

Infrared Systems for Tactical Aviation: An Evolution in Military Affairs?

See why the military is trying to understand the chaotic evolutionary development of infrared (IR) systems

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Imaging

Egypt’s Apache Helicopter Fleet to Get Upgraded Sensor Systems

Lockheed Martin received a $102 million contract award to upgrade 25 of Egypt’s AH-64D Apaches to the E-model version of the aircraft. This modernization for the Egyptian...

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Photonics/Optics

Researchers Developing Prototype of Next-Gen Night Vision Technology

Three University of Arkansas researchers — electrical engineering professor Shui-Qing “Fisher” Yu, Distinguished Professor Greg Salamo, and Jin Hu, assistant...

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Photonics/Optics

Turning Thermal Energy into Electricity Could Help Soldiers

With the addition of sensors and enhanced communication tools, providing lightweight, portable power has become even more challenging. Army-funded research demonstrated a new...