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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.

UV light holds promise for energy-efficient desalination

Researchers at UCR have discovered a way to break salt-water bonds using high-frequency ultraviolet light, offering a non-photothermal alternative to traditional solar desalination systems. The breakthrough could reduce the need for energy-intensive saltwater treatment and address concentrated brine waste.

Digital to analog in one smooth step

The new Harvard device can turn purely digital electronic inputs into analog optical signals at high speeds, addressing the bottleneck of computing and data interconnects. It has the potential to enable advances in microwave photonics and emerging optical computing approaches.

Tiny quantum sensor to make a big impact

Researchers developed a new 2D quantum sensing chip using hexagonal boron nitride that can simultaneously detect temperature anomalies and magnetic fields in any direction. The chip is significantly thinner than current quantum technology for magnetometry, enabling cheaper and more versatile sensors.

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.

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.

Creating invisibility with superconducting materials

Researchers have discovered a new material, α-MoO3, that can be used to create invisibility concentrators with improved performance and lower production costs. The study suggests the use of α-MoO3 to control energy flow and scatter light, enabling the creation of devices with near-perfect invisibility.

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.

Compute at the speed of light

A research team at the University of Delaware has designed an integrated photonics platform with a one-dimensional metalens and metasurfaces, limiting information loss and enabling high signal transmission. The device demonstrates functionalities of Fourier transformation and differentiation, critical techniques in physical sciences.

Light bending material facilitates the search for new particles

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have designed a material that manipulates the Cherenkov cone to distinguish between common and rare particles. The material uses transformation optics to create distinct light cones for particles with high momentum, making it possible to efficiently separate and identify these particles.

Device turns flat surface into spherical antenna

A team of researchers in China has created a new artificial surface that can bend and focus electromagnetic waves like an antenna. The breakthrough, described as the first broadband transformation optics metasurface lens, may lead to flat or ultra-low profile antennas.

Inverse design: New route to design a practical invisibility cloak

The article reviews alternative target-oriented invisibility strategy, referred to as an 'inverse design', which integrates the technical advantages of forward strategies. This approach uses anisotropic materials and non-superluminal propagation to provide cloaking performance with a relatively broad bandwidth.

Nanoplasmonics: Towards efficient light harvesting

Transformation optics tackles challenges in plasmonic devices by transforming complex structures into canonical ones, facilitating accurate modeling and design. This enables the development of efficient light-harvesting nanostructures with strong near-field enhancements.

Apple iPhone 17 Pro

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

Not your average heat shield

Researchers have developed a 'thermal' approach to invisibility cloaking that isolates or cloaks objects from sources of heat. The method uses transformation optics to control thermal diffusion, allowing for the shielding of areas from heat and the concentration of heat in small volumes.

Karlsruhe invisibility cloak: Disappearing visibly

Researchers developed a 3D invisibility cloak that guides light waves around an object, making it invisible to the human eye. The cloaking material is structured in the nanometer range and has precisely defined thicknesses, enabling it to manipulate light waves with unprecedented precision.

GRIN plasmonics

GRIN plasmonics combines transformation optics and plasmonics to control strongly confined light waves. The technique uses an isotropic dielectric material on a metal substrate to create efficient plasmonic devices, including Luneburg and Eaton lenses.

Celestron NexStar 8SE Computerized Telescope

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

Transformation optics make a U-turn for the better

Researchers from Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley have developed a novel approach to transformation optics, allowing for the manipulation of near-field optical waves on uneven surfaces. This breakthrough enables the design of plasmonic devices such as beam splitters, shifters, and directional light emitters.

New research field promises radical advances in optical technologies

The new field of transformation optics harnesses nanotechnology and metamaterials to manipulate and control light at all scales. Researchers envision applications such as electromagnetic cloaks, ultra-powerful microscopes, and faster computers that use light instead of electronic signals.