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Apple iPhone 17 Pro

Apple iPhone 17 Pro delivers top performance and advanced cameras for field documentation, data collection, and secure research communications.

Researchers use ultrasound waves to move objects hands-free

University of Minnesota researchers have developed a contactless manipulation method using ultrasound waves, which can move larger objects without physical contact. This technique uses metamaterial physics to steer objects in desired directions, enabling control through sound reflection.

Thickness bound for nonlocal wide-field-of-view metalenses

Researchers establish a relation between angular diversity and spatial footprint using a transmission matrix framework for wide-FOV metalenses. A thickness bound is determined based on diffraction-limited focusing quality, allowing for compact systems with enhanced imaging capabilities.

SAMSUNG T9 Portable SSD 2TB

SAMSUNG T9 Portable SSD 2TB transfers large imagery and model outputs quickly between field laptops, lab workstations, and secure archives.

Single-cell-driven tri-channel encryption meta-displays

A POSTECH research team developed single-cell-driven tri-channel encryption meta-displays, which project different images depending on where you look at them. These displays overcome the limitations of conventional metasurfaces by combining amplitude modulation and geometric phase manipulation.

Liquid crystal metasurface could enable multi-dimensional light field sensing

A team of scientists developed a near-infrared spectropolarimeter based on an electrically-tunable liquid crystal metasurface. The system simultaneously measures polarization and spectral information using a tunable metasurface with high-quality-factor guided-mode resonances combined with a computational reconstruction algorithm.

All solid-state LiDAR sensor that sees 360°

A team of researchers from Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH) has created a fixed LiDAR sensor that can see objects in all directions. The new sensor uses a metasurface to expand its viewing angle, allowing for 360° recognition and three-dimensional imaging.

Metalens offers superior off-axis focus

A team at KAUST has created an ultrathin dielectric metalens that improves focusing capabilities and can be scaled down for integration with photonics equipment. The metalens, designed from a custom array of TiO2 nanopillars atop a DBR, offers negligible intrinsic loss and easy fabrication.

Color selective three-dimensional polarization structures

Researchers develop single metasurface to realize color-selective 3D polarization structures, offering unprecedented control over polarization with color information in 3D space. The discovery has potential applications in vector beam generation, virtual reality, and information security.

Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (M4 Pro)

Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (M4 Pro) powers local ML workloads, large datasets, and multi-display analysis for field and lab teams.

Optical biosensing through a toy microscope over a surface “rainbow” chip

A team of engineers has created a miniature chip that uses 'rainbow' trapping of light to detect viruses and diseases. The system, which can be integrated with smartphones, allows for high-throughput sensing of biomarkers such as exosomal epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), distinguishing lung cancer patients from healthy controls.

Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2 Weather Station

Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2 Weather Station offers research-grade local weather data for networked stations, campuses, and community observatories.

Artificial soft surface autonomously mimics shapes of nature

Engineers at Duke University developed a scalable soft surface that can continuously reshape itself to mimic objects in nature. It uses electromagnetic actuation, mechanical modeling, and machine learning to form new configurations and adapt to hindrances.

Through the quantum looking glass

Scientists have developed a thin device that can produce complex webs of entangled photons, enabling new information processing schemes and advanced encryption methods. The device uses a metasurface to control the phenomenon of quantum entanglement, paving the way for more compact and powerful computing and sensing technologies.

Garmin GPSMAP 67i with inReach

Garmin GPSMAP 67i with inReach provides rugged GNSS navigation, satellite messaging, and SOS for backcountry geology and climate field teams.

Chip-scale metamicroscope for high-performance imaging

A newly developed polarizer-embedded metalens microscope system achieves high-quality, wide-field imaging with a large depth-of-field, significantly expanding human eyesight to the microworld. The chip-scale device offers a thousand-fold reduction in volume and weight compared to traditional microscopes.

Tetrahedrons assemble! Three-sided pyramids form 2D structures

Researchers at Rice University have created 2D chiral superstructures using three-sided pyramids, which could lead to breakthroughs in metamaterials. The structures, composed of ultrathin assemblies of particles, incorporate left-handed and right-handed domains and exhibit unique optical properties.

Upside-down design expands wide-spectrum super-camera abilities

Researchers at Duke University have developed a new design for plasmonic metasurfaces that greatly expands their frequency range while also making them more robust against the elements. The new fabrication process allows for the use of a wide variety of shapes, opening up new possibilities for applications such as super cameras.

Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 46mm)

Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 46mm) tracks health metrics and safety alerts during long observing sessions, fieldwork, and remote expeditions.

Tiny lab on a chip

Researchers at Osaka University have created a microfluidic system that can detect minute changes in the concentration of trace amounts of ethanol, glucose, or minerals in water using terahertz radiation. The device achieved sensitivity levels an order of magnitude better than existing microfluidic chips.

One step closer to moving things with our thoughts

Researchers have made a breakthrough in controlling metamaterials with brainwaves, enabling real-time, remote, and wireless applications. The team developed a framework for remotely mind-controlled metasurfaces using Bluetooth technology.

Aranet4 Home CO2 Monitor

Aranet4 Home CO2 Monitor tracks ventilation quality in labs, classrooms, and conference rooms with long battery life and clear e-ink readouts.

Algorithms empower metalens design

A new approach using artificial intelligence generates designs automatically, allowing researchers to create complex metasurfaces with billions of nanopillars. This enables the development of larger, more complex metalenses for virtual reality and augmented reality systems.

Shaping the future of light through reconfigurable metasurfaces

Researchers at Georgia Tech have developed the first-ever electrically tunable photonic metasurface platform, which enables reconfigurable metasurfaces with high levels of optical modulation. This breakthrough has significant implications for various technologies such as LiDAR systems, imaging, spectroscopy and sensing.

AmScope B120C-5M Compound Microscope

AmScope B120C-5M Compound Microscope supports teaching labs and QA checks with LED illumination, mechanical stage, and included 5MP camera.

Dynamic metasurfaces and metadevices empowered by graphene

Researchers have developed graphene-empowered dynamic metasurfaces and metadevices that can actively tune their electromagnetic wave manipulation capabilities. The devices exploit the unique properties of graphene to manipulate visible, terahertz, and microwave frequencies.

Rice ‘metalens’ could disrupt vacuum UV market

Researchers at Rice University have created a 'metalens' that transforms long-wave UV-A into a focused output of vacuum UV radiation. The technology uses nanophotonics to impart a phase shift on incoming light, redirecting it and generating VUV without the need for specialized equipment.

Fluke 87V Industrial Digital Multimeter

Fluke 87V Industrial Digital Multimeter is a trusted meter for precise measurements during instrument integration, repairs, and field diagnostics.

Optical vortex crystals for photonic simulations of complex systems

Scientists at IIT realized coupled light vortices forming an ordered structure, a light crystal. They developed metasurfaces to control laser beams and created 100 light vortices with tunable topology, enabling new properties for optical communications and simulations of complex systems.

Photonic encryption platform in the ultraviolet and visible

A research team at Pohang University of Science & Technology developed an optical encryption platform that works in both the visible and ultraviolet regimes. The platform uses metasurface technology to display unique product numbers and improve encryption security.

Celestron NexStar 8SE Computerized Telescope

Celestron NexStar 8SE Computerized Telescope combines portable Schmidt-Cassegrain optics with GoTo pointing for outreach nights and field campaigns.

Mechanical control of a reconfigurable intelligent surface

A mechanical RIS has been developed with high reconfiguration degree of freedom, low power consumption, and real-time dynamic control capabilities. It uses a robust control method to determine the rotation angle of each meta-atom and offers a new energy-saving and environmentally friendly alternative for wireless communications systems.

Kestrel 3000 Pocket Weather Meter

Kestrel 3000 Pocket Weather Meter measures wind, temperature, and humidity in real time for site assessments, aviation checks, and safety briefings.

Recent advances in optical dynamic meta-holography

Researchers discuss recent progress in optical dynamic meta-holography, a technology for 3D display scenes. Metasurfaces enable more powerful light modulation capabilities, offering advantages such as higher spatial resolution and elimination of diffraction orders.

Researchers shrink camera to the size of a salt grain

The new system can produce high-quality images comparable to those of conventional cameras, with a compact design suitable for minimally invasive endoscopy and full-scene sensing. This breakthrough could revolutionize medical imaging and robotics with size and weight constraints.

Simple silicon coating solves long-standing optical challenge

Researchers at Harvard SEAS developed a new silicon coating that counters chromatic dispersion in transparent materials like glass. The ultra-thin coating uses precisely designed silicon pillars to capture and re-emitting red light, allowing slower-moving blue light to catch up.

CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt 4 Dock

CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt 4 Dock simplifies serious desks with 18 ports for high-speed storage, monitors, and instruments across Mac and PC setups.

Broadband spintronic-metasurface terahertz emitters with tunable chirality

Researchers developed a novel spintronic-metasurface terahertz emitter that generates broadband, circularly polarized, and coherent terahertz waves. The design offers flexible manipulation of the polarization state and helicity with magnetic fields, enabling efficient generation and control of chiral terahertz waves.

Bridging optics and electronics

Researchers at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have developed a simple spatial light modulator made from gold electrodes covered by a thin film of electro-optical material. This device can control light intensity and pixel by pixel, enabling compact, high-speed, and precise optical devices.

Holey metalens!

Researchers at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences developed a metasurface using ultra-deep holes to focus light to a single spot, achieving a record-breaking aspect ratio of nearly 30:1. This breakthrough enables the creation of large achromatic metalenses with diverse color control capabilities.

Smuggling light through opaque materials

Electrical engineers at Duke University have discovered a way to extend the use of chalcogenide glasses into the visible and ultraviolet parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. By nanostructuring these materials, they can create high-order harmonic frequencies that enable transmission of light at previously inaccessible wavelengths.

Anker Laptop Power Bank 25,000mAh (Triple 100W USB-C)

Anker Laptop Power Bank 25,000mAh (Triple 100W USB-C) keeps Macs, tablets, and meters powered during extended observing runs and remote surveys.

Quantum photonics based on metasurfaces

Researchers discuss the recent development of quantum optics based on micro/nano structures, including metasurfaces, which offers rich light field control function to discover new quantum physics. Metasurfaces has great potential in quantum optics, enabling the exploration of quantum technologies with strong stability and high efficiency.

Microscopic metavehicles powered by nothing but light

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have created microscopic metavehicles that can be controlled and maneuvered using light. By layering an optical metasurface onto a particle and using a light source to control it, the vehicles can move in complex patterns and even transport other objects.

Apple iPad Pro 11-inch (M4)

Apple iPad Pro 11-inch (M4) runs demanding GIS, imaging, and annotation workflows on the go for surveys, briefings, and lab notebooks.

Generating entangled photons with nonlinear metasurfaces

A new approach to generating quantum-entangled photon pairs uses nonlinear metasurfaces to enhance and tailor photon emissions. The researchers achieved a five-order-of-magnitude increase in the brightness of entangled photons, with a highly configurable platform that can control entanglement and direction.

Metasurfaces control polarized light at will

Researchers at Harvard SEAS have demonstrated a new way to control polarized light using metasurfaces, enabling holographic images with an unlimited number of polarization states and manipulation in virtually infinite directions. This advancement could lead to applications in imaging, microscopes, displays, and astronomy.

Impenetrable optical OTP security platform

A POSTECH research team has developed an encrypted hologram printing platform that works in both natural light and laser light using the metasurface technology. The device can produce a holographic color image retaining specific polarization, setting it apart from previously reported holograms.

Cascaded metasurfaces for dynamic control of THz wavefronts

Researchers developed a general framework for dynamic control of THz wavefronts using cascaded metasurfaces. By varying the polarization of a light beam with rotating multilayer metasurfaces, they demonstrated efficient redirection and manipulation of THz beams, overcoming limitations in local tuning.

DJI Air 3 (RC-N2)

DJI Air 3 (RC-N2) captures 4K mapping passes and environmental surveys with dual cameras, long flight time, and omnidirectional obstacle sensing.

New type of metasurface allows unprecedented laser control

Researchers at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences developed a single metasurface that can tune different properties of laser light, including wavelength, without additional optical components. This opens the door for lightweight and efficient optical systems for various applications.

Infrared imaging by ultrathin nanocrystal layers

Researchers demonstrate conversion of infrared images to visible using ultrathin and transparent semiconductor nanocrystals. The proposed metasurface-based IR imaging approach offers novel opportunities for compact night vision instruments and sensor devices.

GQ GMC-500Plus Geiger Counter

GQ GMC-500Plus Geiger Counter logs beta, gamma, and X-ray levels for environmental monitoring, training labs, and safety demonstrations.