Researchers have demonstrated nanomaterial-based white-light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that exhibit a record luminous efficiency of 105 lumens per watt. Luminous efficiency is a measure of how well a light source uses power to generate light. With further development, the new LEDs could reach efficiencies over 200 lumens per watt, making them a promising energy-efficient lighting source […]
Compact Fiber Optic Sensor Offers Sensitive Analysis In Narrow Spaces
Researchers have developed a new flexible sensor with high sensitivity that is designed to perform variety of chemical and biological analyses in very small spaces. The sensor’s small size means that it could potentially be used inside blood vessels. With additional development, the sensor might be used to detect specific chemicals, DNA molecules or viruses. […]
Researchers Create Fiber Optic Sensors That Dissolve In The Body
For the first time, researchers have fabricated sensing elements known as fiber Bragg gratings inside optical fibers designed to dissolve completely inside the body. The bioresorbable fiber Bragg gratings could be used for in-body monitoring of bone fracture healing and for safer exploration of sensitive organs such as the brain. A fiber Bragg grating is an optical […]
Ultra-Thin Optical Fibers Offer New Way To 3-D Print Microstructures
For the first time, researchers have shown that an optical fiber as thin as a human hair can be used to create microscopic structures with laser-based 3D printing. The innovative approach might one day be used with an endoscope to fabricate tiny biocompatible structures directly into tissue inside the body. This capability could enable new […]
New Lensless Camera Creates Detailed 3-D Images Without Scanning
Researchers have developed an easy-to-build camera that produces 3D images from a single 2D image without any lenses. In an initial application of the technology, the researchers plan to use the new camera, which they call DiffuserCam, to watch microscopic neuron activity in living mice without a microscope. Ultimately, it could prove useful for a […]
Wireless Handheld Spectrometer Transmits Data To Smartphone
Spectral images, which contain more color information than is obtainable with a typical camera, reveal characteristics of tissue and other biological samples that can’t be seen by the naked eye. A new smartphone-compatible device that is held like a pencil could make it practical to acquire spectral images of everyday objects and may eventually be […]
Optical Trapping System Offers Way to Launch High-Power Laser Light
Researchers have demonstrated, for the first time, that laser light can be used to manipulate a glass optical fiber tapered to a sharp point smaller than a speck of dust, in the middle of an optical fiber with a hollow core. Amazingly, optical forces cause the sharp point, or “nanospike,” to self-align at the center […]
Making Colorful Buildings That Convert Solar Light Into Energy
By converting sunlight into usable energy, solar thermal devices could become an important part of a sustainable future. To that end, researchers have developed a new solar-light-absorbing surface that can have almost any design, pattern, and color – useful for turning building facades and roofs into energy-capturing exteriors without sacrificing aesthetics. Since they also use […]
Curly Nanowires Catch More Light to Power Nanoscale Electronic Circuits
In the question of curly versus straight, new evidence suggests curly wins – at least in the world of nanowires. Researchers from Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey, have shown that twisting straight nanowires into springs can increase the amount of light the wires absorb by up to 23 percent. Absorbing more light is important because one […]
New Imaging Device that Is Flexible, Flat, and Transparent
Digital cameras, medical scanners, and other imaging technologies have advanced considerably during the past decade. Continuing this pace of innovation, an Austrian research team has developed an entirely new way of capturing images based on a flat, flexible, transparent, and potentially disposable polymer sheet. The team describes their new device and its possible applications in […]