Collaborate Disseminate
An innovative anamorphic illusion has taken the top prize in the annual Best Illusion of the Year contest. Twisting minds for 17 years the contest highlights the ways our brain can be tricked using simple perceptual illusions.Continue ReadingCategory: … Continue reading The best optical illusions of the year 2021
The current state of the art of embedded motion sensing is based around micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) devices. These miracles of microfabrication use tiny silicon structures, configured to detect acceleration and …read more Continue reading Quantum Atomic Interferometer For Precision Motion Sensing
For those of us who remember old ball mice, they were a lot like modern optical mice except that they needed to be cleaned constantly. Having optical mice as a …read more Continue reading Smart Ruler Has Many Features
Quantum computers have the potential to drastically outperform traditional computers, but for now they’re mostly limited to labs and big experimental setups. Japanese researchers have now made a step towards more accessible quantum computing devices, f… Continue reading Twisted light makes for breakthrough quantum computer chip
If you live in much of the world today, high-speed Internet is a solved problem. But there are still places where getting connected presents unique challenges. Alphabet, the company that …read more Continue reading Broadband Across the Congo
Alphabet’s floating internet venture Project Loon may have been deflated, but its legacy looks set to live on through a new effort called Project Taara. The team has salvaged the technology to deliver internet connectivity with lasers, demonstrating th… Continue reading Lasers beam high-speed internet between cities through open air
A monochromator is an optical instrument that permits only a narrow selection of wavelengths to be transmitted from a source, and the particular model [Doug] obtained renders visual light monochromatic …read more Continue reading Vintage Monochromator Makes Monochromatic Light, Mechanically
Engineers have found a way to make liquid metals switch between reflective surfaces or those that scatter light. The transition only requires a small zap of electricity and could be used to make mirrors that can be switched on or off.Continue ReadingCa… Continue reading Liquid metal mirrors switch reflectivity on and off with a zap
Engineers at Stanford have created a new optical device that can easily manipulate light into basically any color desired. The system uses a series of modulators to fine-tune the frequencies of individual photons to change their color.Continue ReadingC… Continue reading Photonic device makes light any color by manipulating individual photons
Materials get their optical properties based on how much they reflect, absorb or transmit different wavelengths (colors) of light. Usually optical coatings either reflect or transmit a given color of light, but now researchers at the University of Roch… Continue reading Optical coating reflects and transmits the same wavelength of light