Photonics

Researchers have looked into nature for inspiration, understanding the mechanisms animals, insects and plants use to capture and process light and then designing next generation optoelectronics devices and systems like light-emitting diodes (LEDs), sensors and materials. Biomimicry has led to the development of several naturally inspired structures, such as curved …

Nature provides many examples of optical structures whose properties arise from an intricate morphology. The brilliant colors seen in butterfly wings, beetle carapaces, and peacock feathers, for example, are due in large part to their complex structure, says DARPA. These hierarchical structures, scaling from micron to nanometer level, achieve remarkable …

In recent years, precision guided weapons play more and more important role in modern war. One of the greatest strengths of a precision strike missile is a reduction in the number of weapons or aircraft sorties required to destroy a target. Strategy Analytics forecasts the global Smart Weapons (SW) market …

Humans view the intensity of light as the various colors of the spectrum. Characteristics of light include amplitude (intensity), frequency (color), polarization, and coherence. The human eye has cone cells, that correspond reflected light from objects into colors which range from wavelengths of approximately 400-700nm. Polarization, the direction in which …

Sensors allow humans to feel and understand their world, and their development lays the foundation for the fulfillment of information society and has formed a huge industry. Photonic sensors are defined as sensors that sense, emit, receive and convert the light energy into electrical signals. Photonics sensors deal with the …

Sensors allow humans to feel and understand their world, and their development lays the foundation for the fulfillment of information society and has formed a huge industry. For its implementation the Internet of Things relies heavily on sensor technology.In the grand world of the “internet of things” (IoT), there are …

One of the most challenging tasks in any aerial combat situation is to determine which assets on the ground should be targeted and which ones should be avoided. This is particularly challenging in the situation where enemy assets are camouflaged or hidden amongst civilian assets. Because of this a practice …

There is virtually no part of a modern defense system that is not impacted in some way by optics and photonics, even when the system is not optically based. Modern defense systems are migrating toward optically based imaging, remote sensing, communications, and weapons.   Silicon photonics uses photons to detect …

Perovskites have generated huge interest in recent years because of their potential for solid-state lighting and displays, despite lagging behind other state-of-the-art technologies in efficiency and longevity. Now two independent teams have reported light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based on perovskites that have surpassed a milestone in efficiency [Cao et al., Nature …

The capability of Russia and China to disrupt American military wireless and satellite communications using electronic warfare has been rising.  This is athreat to US Navy operations that require connectivity among a diverse set of platforms, including submarines, surface ships, aircraft, and shore sites. The links among these platforms support …