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INSIDER
Data Acquisition

Space Lasers: Aiming Towards Next Leap in Global Communications

Space lasers are transforming the world. Not the far-off future of science fiction, but the universe of how data and communications flow today — everywhere from deep space...

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Articles
Defense

Image Sensors and Cameras Based on Colloidal Quantum Dots for Defense Applications

This article reports on the image sensor technology and the VS20 camera product developed at Emberion. The article describes the image sensor design comprising the sensor stack based on a p-i-n photodiode implementation with PbS QDs sandwiched between thin-film hole transport (HTL) and electron transport (ETL) layers as well as the CMOS ROIC architecture and pixel front-end interfacing the photodiode stack.

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Articles
Photonics/Optics

NASA’s Optical Communications Demo Transmits Data Over 140 Million Miles

This achievement provides a glimpse into how spacecraft could use optical communications in the future, enabling higher-data-rate communications of complex scientific information as well as high-definition imagery and video in support of humanity’s next giant leap: sending humans to Mars.

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Briefs
Aerospace

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.

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Articles
Photonics/Optics

Physicists Develop a New Type of Antenna

This research and demonstration presents a simple technique for a remote Rydberg-atom-based RF sensor, which was verified for distances of up to 30 m between the passive sensing unit and the base station — currently limited by the length of the hallway used in the demonstration.

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Application Briefs
Photonics/Optics

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.

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Articles
Photonics/Optics

How Laser Communications Innovation is Finally Coming of Age and Driving Innovation in Defense

Though laser technology has advantages over radio, and those advantages are growing as innovation accelerates, what is essential to realize is that they need not be in competition.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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INSIDER
Photonics/Optics

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...

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INSIDER
Photonics/Optics

Filtered Rayleigh Scattering Enables Laser-Optical Measurement of Turbofan Thrust

Pratt & Whitney and Virginia Tech announced a pioneering new technology for calculating thrust using lasers to enable high-fidelity measurement of key...

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Briefs
Photonics/Optics

Overcoming Performance Limitations of Distributed Brillouin Fiber Laser Sensors

Distributed fiber sensors are a powerful tool for structural health monitoring and environmental sensing due to their ability to remotely monitor the strain at 1,000s of locations using low-cost optical fiber.

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Articles
Aerospace

The Future of Automated Guided Vehicles for Aerospace and Defense

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the first automated guided vehicle, and AGVs have been moving things around on humans’ behalf ever since.

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INSIDER
Photonics/Optics

AFTC Gains New Test Capability

As weapon system designers continue to innovate for the defense of the nation, the Air Force Test Center must advance the test capabilities available to develop and prove the superiority of those systems...

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Articles
RF & Microwave Electronics

Designing Multi-Channel Microwave Radio Systems Using Optical Interconnects

Imagine if it was possible to build multi-channel microwave radio systems leveraging optical rather than copper interconnects.

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Briefs
Manned Systems

Advanced Airborne Defensive Laser for Incorporation on Strike Fighter Aircraft

Short-range missiles pose a significant threat to U.S. strike fighters.

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Briefs
Defense

MOVPE Growth of LWIR AlInAs/GaInAs/InP Quantum Cascade Lasers: Impact of Growth and Material Quality on Laser Performance

Quantum cascade lasers are compact coherent optical sources that emit over a wide wavelength range in the mid- to long-infrared as well as into part of the terahertz spectrum.

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INSIDER
Defense

Raytheon Pairs Laser Weapon with NASAMS Air Defense System

One of the advanced technologies Raytheon Intelligence & Space (RI&S) is promoting at this year's AUSA Annual Meeting and exhibition is their High-Energy Laser Weapon...

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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.

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Briefs
Photonics/Optics

Modeling Optical Time and Frequency Generation and Transfer Systems

The research was closely tied to work that was led by Nathan Newbury at NIST, and the principal goal was to support the development of advanced laser sources.

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Briefs
Weapons Systems

Navy Lasers, Railgun, and Hypervelocity Projectile: Background and Issues for Congress

Two key limitations that Navy surface ships currently have in defending themselves against ASCMs and ASBMs are limited depth of magazine and unfavorable cost exchange ratios.

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Briefs
Aerospace

Coherent, Efficient and Practical Polariton Lasers Using a Designable Cavity

This research demonstrates for the first time a polariton laser with coherence reaching the intrinsic limit of single-mode matter-wave lasers.

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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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INSIDER
Defense

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...

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INSIDER
Photonics/Optics

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...

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INSIDER
Defense

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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