The universe is pretty transparent to optical light--that's how we can see far away galaxies.
Gamma-rays are the most energetic form of light, with wavelengths far shorter than ordinary optical light (the light your eye can see), or even ultraviolet or X-ray light.
The galactic centre can only be observed at certain wavelengths - such as X-rays - because large amounts of dust lie in our line of sight, blocking out optical light.
Driven by Lumus' patented Light-guide Optical Element, a micro-display pod, and the Optical Engine which projects light into the lens -- where it is reflected back to the user's eye via reflectors embedded in the lens -- the Lumus' DK-32 delivers a bright 720p 3D-capable display that only weighs 27 grams.
An optical mouse uses a beam of light and an optical sensor to detect movement over a surface -- there are no moving parts.
But instead of producing an electrical signal when it is tickled, the optical nose sneezes light.
In a conventional optical system, light rays enter through a lens and converge at a point to form an image.
Thousands of blades of polyethylene grass, blended with optical fibers, reflect light upward from the trays.
In this week's Science, Jonathan Knight and his colleagues at the University of Bath, in Britain, report the production of an optical fibre that guides light using this phenomenon.
Sometimes, these rotations bring big payoffs, such as when 3M realized that the problem of laptop battery life was really a problem of energy used up too quickly for illuminating the screen. 3M researchers applied their knowledge of see-through adhesives to create an optical film that focuses light outward, producing a screen that was 40% more efficient.
The only instruments capable of measuring such vibrations, though, were spectroscopes--meter-long glass-and-metal optical devices that used infrared light.
The only instruments capable of measuring such vibrations, though, were spectroscopes--4-foot-long glass-and-metal optical devices that used infrared light.
The content zooms and clatters over an array of archaic and futuristic gear, from aging copper phone lines to light-bending optical switches.
One example the company has developed is a crystal fibre that squeezes light into such a narrow core that the intensity of the light modifies the optical properties of the glass itself.
Zech (The ADVENT Group of Colorado Springs, CO) noted optical storage technology expert, a new commercial optical storage technology using UV light would probably have to be in the 200 nm range and would provide storage capacities of over 100 GB in a single layer.
FORBES: What is the Future of Optical Disc Technology and who will Use It?
There are many older optical fibers, but low-light-loss ones are vital for telephone cable.
This is the wavelength of the infra-red light normally used in optical communications.
Infrared light is used mainly for optical communication--including for sending messages between a remote control and the TV.
All-optical routers that can manipulate packets of light, pulling some signals off a fiber and sending the rest on their way, may not be widely available for years.
Dr Lin is already testing a waveguide designed to steer light with a wavelength of 1.5 microns, and he is also working on three-dimensional waveguides made of silicon, which will provide almost total control over the path the light takes, and make really complex optical circuits possible.
However there are lots of commercial issues with a UV optical disc besides creating inexpensive devices to generate this wavelength of light.
FORBES: What is the Future of Optical Disc Technology and who will Use It?
And they may also allow the development of purely optical switches, which would eliminate the need to convert a light signal into an electronic one before such switching can be accomplished.
Pyron uses an acrylic concentrating lens, which focuses the equivalent of the light from 6, 500 suns on a small optical device, which then spreads it across the surface of the solar cell.
Optical scientists cleverly named the visible mix rendered by the colors in light the Color Rendering Index.
Another example involved creating "light pipes" as a 3D-printed alternative to optical fibre.
The advantage of the rival NTT technique, says Saruwatari Masatoshi, a senior researcher at the company's Optical Network Systems Laboratories, is that it uses only a single light source.
Andrews can show that it's more than just theory: the two have successfully created an optical field that flipped the usual pressure and started pulling objects toward the light.
ENGADGET: Researchers build a working tractor beam, on a very small scale
Quantum key distribution does this by encoding the information in the polarisation states of individual photons, the particles of light, which are sent from Alice to Bob over an optical fibre.
ECONOMIST: Secure cryptography is only as safe as its weakest link
Beneath the carpet is a mesh of optical fibres that detect and plot movement as pressure bends them, changing the light detected at the carpet's edges.
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