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Thin-film optics is the branch of optics that focuses on thin, structured layers of different materials. These layers range from a fraction of a nanometer up to several micrometers thick but are usually in the order of the wavelengths of ultraviolet light, which is about 500nm. Their synthesis is controlled via deposition, with one or more layers of material layered onto the substrate, usually via physical vapor deposition.

The University of Rochester research lab that recently used lasers to create unsinkable metallic structures has now demonstrated how the same technology could be used to create highly efficient solar power generators.

Researchers at EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland, have developed a new, high-precision method for 3D-printing small, soft objects. The process, which takes less than 30 seconds from start to finish, has potential applications in a wide range of fields, including 3D bioprinting.

Chemical reactions are determined at their most fundamental level by their respective electronic structure and dynamics. Steered by a stimulus such as light irradiation, electrons rearrange themselves in liquids or solids. This process takes only a few hundred attoseconds, whereby one attosecond is the billionth part of a billionth of a second.

Two research groups at ETH Zurich have joined forces to develop a novel light detector. It consists of two-dimensional layers of different materials that are coupled to a silicon optical waveguide. In the future, this approach can also be used to make LEDs and optical modulators.

Computers process information based on arrays of so-called bits. Each bit can take the values of one or zero. This is typically realized with integrated electronic circuits permanently written onto a semiconductor chip.

The word « lens » takes its name from the Latin word for lentil. Both are both hemispheric shapes bound together on their flat surface. So a « flat lens » sounds like a contradiction of terms. Yet that is exactly what Andrei Faraon is working on at California Institute of Technology’s Nanoscale and Quantum Optics Lab.

Technological advancements have led to incredible break throughs in the automotive industry, such as self-driving and environmentally compliant vehicles. Now, a new development from EDL Rethschulte, which specializes in lighting design, has the potential to change the view of and from the car through a novel micro-lens array (MLA) wafer technology, which allows for the production of extremely compact and light LED projectors the size of a thimble.

Lasers are essential to many fields – ranging from optical communications and remote sensing, to manufacturing and medicine. While the semiconductor laser was first demonstrated nearly 60 years ago, advances in diode lasers and access to semiconductor fabrication techniques have enabled continued innovation and miniaturization of the technology.