Collaborate Disseminate
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
The basics of digital logic are pretty easy to master, and figuring out how the ones and zeroes flow through various kinds of gates is often an interesting exercise. Taking things down a level and breaking the component AND, OR, …read more
Continue reading Interference Patterns Harnessed for Optical Logic Gates
Between hot things, sharp things, and spinny things, there’s more than enough danger in the average hacker’s shop to maim and mutilate anyone who fails to respect their power. But somehow lasers don’t seem to earn the same healthy fear, …read more
Continue reading Beam Dump Makes Sure Your Laser Path is Safely Terminated
Join us on Wednesday, December 2nd at noon Pacific for the Precision Optics Hack Chat with Jeroen Vleggaar!
We sometimes take for granted one of the foundational elements of our technological world: optics. There are high-quality lenses, mirrors, filters, and other precision optical components in just about everything these days, …read more
Continue reading Precision Optics Hack Chat with Jeroen Vleggaar of Huygens Optics
Science fiction has been dangling the promise of holograms in front of us for decades, but like hoverboards and flying cars, the tech always feels just out of reach. Now Samsung has made a major stride towards realistic holograms, with a prototype thin… Continue reading Samsung’s hologram prototype sports 4K visuals and wide viewing angle
An Alphabet X innovation lab project has been working on a high-speed wireless optical communications network that uses beams of light instead of cables or radio waves, and folks in Kenya will be the first to benefit from the fruits of these labors.Con… Continue reading Alphabet project uses light beams to bring broadband to remote regions
Join us on Wednesday, October 7th at noon Pacific for the DIY Lasers Hack Chat with Les Wright!
It’s not too much of a reach to say that how we first experienced the magic of lasers sort of dates where we fall on the technology spectrum. For the youngest among …read more
Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a kind of electronic “invisible ink” that can help alert users to any unauthorized tampering with a device. When the chip is exposed to light it will erase information printed on it, making it cl… Continue reading Self-erasing “invisible ink” chip alerts users to unauthorized access
Inventing often combines more than one old ideas into a new one. Even when the fused things are similar, the result can be more valuable than the sum of its parts. Unlike those analog watches with a digital clock below the face, when [Mojoptix] combined the re-reflecting properties of an …read more
Schlieren imaging is a technique for viewing the density of transparent fluids using a camera and some clever optical setups. Density of a fluid like air might change based on the composition of the air itself with various gasses, or it may vary as a result of a sound or …read more