Synchronizing modern electronic systems such as the Internet and GPS navigation is currently done using microwave atomic clocks that measure time based on the frequency of natural vibrations of cesium atoms. Those vibrations occur at microwave frequencies that can easily…
Photodetectors, also called photosensors, are sensors of light or other electromagnetic radiation. There is a wide variety of photodetectors that may be classified by mechanism of detection, such as photoelectric or photochemical effects, or by various performance metrics, such as…
There has been an exponential growth of space objects, including orbital debris that has increased the in-orbit collision risk. NASA estimates there are 21,000 objects orbiting Earth that are larger than 10 cm, 500,000 between 1 and 10 cm, and…
Currently, old-style personal Medicare techniques rely mostly on traditional methods, such as cumbersome tools and complicated processes, which can be time-consuming and inconvenient in some circumstances. Furthermore, such old methods need the use of heavy equipment, blood draws, and traditional…
Optical networks are vulnerable to several types of security breaches or attacks, typically aimed at disrupting the service or gaining unauthorized access to carried data, i.e., eavesdropping. Depending on the aim of the attack, security breaches can induce financial losses to…
The electromagnetic spectrum is a series of frequencies ranging from radio waves to microwaves, visible light, X-rays, and gamma rays. As the wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation shortens, the waves have a higher frequency—how quickly electromagnetic waves follow each other—and…
Today, we are witnessing the second quantum revolution, where quantum states, which can exhibit superposition and entanglement, are harnessed for quantum technological applications. Quantum Sensing exploits the high sensitivity of quantum systems to external disturbances to develop highly sensitive sensors. …
The design of digital circuits is currently dominated by hardware description languages such as Verilog and VHDL. This automation of circuit design has enabled the development of modern computer processors with billions of transistors. Integrated photonic devices, on the…
Fiber optics, or optical fibers, are long, thin strands of carefully drawn glass about the diameter of a human hair. These strands are arranged in bundles called optical cables. We rely on them to transmit light signals over long distances.…
Metamaterials are artificially structured materials designed to control and manipulate physical phenomena such as light and other electromagnetic waves, sound waves and seismic waves in unconventional ways, resulting in exotic behavior that’s not found in nature. This class of micro-…