Light behaves both as a particle and as a wave. Since the days of Einstein, scientists have been trying to directly observe both of these aspects of light at the same time. Now, scientists at EPFL have succeeded in capturing the first-ever snapshot of this dual behavior. Quantum mechanics tells us that light can behave simultaneously as a particle or a wave. However, there has never been an experiment able...Continue Reading
A community-based organization called DAYLIGHT Project has introduced bulbs made from plastic water bottles to people living in informal settlements that lack electricity. The bulbs are a low-cost and environmentally-friendly innovation that are said to last seven years.Continue Reading
Sydor Instruments announced today that it has been awarded a $150,000 SBIR/STTR Phase I grant from the Department of Energy. Sydor Instruments will use this grant in collaboration with Cornell University to advance the development of a novel fast framing hybridized x-ray imaging detector. The hybridized detector is capable of capturing a sequence of quantitative x-ray images at rates compatible with the most commonly used bunch sequences such as the...Continue Reading
A Hodoscope is an instrument used to determine the trajectory of charged particles. It’s built out of a three-dimensional matrix of particle detectors – either PIN diodes or Geiger tubes – arranged in such a way that particles can be traced along coincident detectors, revealing their trajectory. Artist Inadvertently Builds Hodoscope | Hackaday.Continue Reading
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope say they have been watching the same star blow itself to smithereens in a supernova explosion over and over again, thanks to a trick of Einsteinian optics. The star exploded more than nine billion years ago on the other side of the universe, too far for even the Hubble to see without special help from the cosmos. In this case, however, light rays from the star...Continue Reading
In celebration of the International Year of Light (#IYOL15, #ROCtheIYOL), NYPhotonics member Navitar sponsored the donation of 2500 polarizing slides for the upcoming “Wonders of Orion” planetarium show at the Rochester Museum and Science Center’s Strasenburgh Planetarium. Navitar, Inc. supplies custom projection optics for planetariums around the world. As part of the International Year of Light, the Strasenburgh Planetarium has chosen “the polarizing effect” and The Crab Nebula. In the late 1940’s and...Continue Reading
What is really astounding (to anyone that has ever used Photoshop) is the viral nature of the argument about the blue dress. Is it blue, or is it white? The real answer of course is, “Who cares?” But since the subject has caught the attention of millions, the scientists have to step in. After all, IT’S OPTICS! The Science of Why No One Agrees on the Color of This Dress...Continue Reading
Did you know that the stunning lights of aurora borealis are the result of solar wind? Or that every CD and DVD player contains a tiny laser? Or that some people can trick their brains to see “impossible” colors? Fascinating, right? It’s this fascination with light and an unquenchable interest in researching new concepts that has made the Rochester region a light, imaging and optical technologies worldwide hub. The United...Continue Reading
Advancements in aspheric lens design and manufacturing, high quality sensors, imaging software, fiber-optic data transmission, and display technology have made citizen jounalism possible. #IYOL15Continue Reading
If you missed this presentation at Photonics West, SPIE’s Steven Anderson and his staff have been busy digging deeper. http://www.newyorkphotonics.org//pdf/PW15%20Anderson%20_%20Breakfast%20%20_%20Final.pdfContinue Reading
