Bright Ideas — New Detector Could Enable High-Speed Quantum Communication, SPIE & JENOPTIK Announce Scholarship, Behind The Scenes At BU's Photonics Center, And More

By John Oncea, Editor

Bright Ideas presents the most captivating news and innovations in optics and photonics. This week, researchers set a new speed record for artificially controlling electric currents in solid materials, Lockheed Martin verifies beam quality of 50 kW-class laser architecture designed to meet U.S. Army’s modernization strategy, researchers tailor the thickness of conducting nitrides and oxides to enhance their photonic applications, and more.

Researchers using superconducting nanowire design for fast and precise photon counting have developed a new detector that can precisely measure single photons at very high rates, reports Optica. The new device could help make high-speed quantum communication practical. “Our new detector is made of 32 niobium nitride superconducting nanowires on a silicon chip, which enables high count rates with high precision,” said research team member Ioana Craiciu, a postdoctoral scholar. “The detector was designed with quantum communication in mind, as this is a technological area that has been limited by the performance of available detectors.” The detector was developed as part of a NASA program to enable new technology for space-to-ground quantum communication, which can allow sharing of quantum information across intercontinental distances in the future. This work builds upon technology developed for the NASA Deep Space Optical Communication project, which will be the first demonstration of free-space optical communication from interplanetary space.

Using ultrafast laser flashes, a research group from the University of Rostock and the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Physics in Stuttgart has generated and measured the shortest electron pulse to date, according to, well, us. The electrons were released from a tiny metal tip with the help of lasers, which took only 53 attoseconds, i.e. 53 billionths of a billionth of a second. With this study, the results of which are published in the journal Nature, the researchers set a new speed record for artificially controlling electric currents in solid materials. “Using light pulses that cover only a single cycle of the field, it is now possible to give the electrons a precisely controlled kick, so that they are ejected from the tungsten tip within a very short time interval,” explains Eleftherios Goulielmakis.

SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, and JENOPTIK Optical Systems, LLC have established a new scholarship that will support photonics-technician students in Florida, according to SPIE. The scholarships have been established for students enrolled in or planning to enroll in a laser, optics, or photonics technician associate or certificate program in the state of Florida. Each of the four $3,000 scholarships will be awarded to offset tuition and fees, textbooks, computers, or a computer upgrade, as well as other supplies and equipment needed for courses of instruction. Scholarship winners also will receive a one-year complimentary SPIE Student Membership. “The optics, photonics, and imaging industries are growing exponentially, and there’s a real need for skilled optics and photonics technicians who can continue to bring engineers’ visions to fruition,” says SPIE CEO Kent Rochford. “We are delighted to be working with Jenoptik to support technician students in their exciting career journey.”

Lockheed Martin announced it achieved first light from the Directed Energy Interceptor for Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense System (DEIMOS) system, which verifies that the laser’s optical performance parameters align with the system design parameters. “The 50 kW-class laser weapon system brings another critical piece to help ensure the U.S. Army has a layered air defense capability,” said Rick Cordaro, vice president, Lockheed Martin Advanced Product Solutions. “DEIMOS has been tailored from our prior laser weapon successes to affordably meet the Army's larger modernization strategy for air and missile defense and to improve mission success with 21st Century Security solutions.”  Lockheed Martin’s DEIMOS first light demonstration is a crucial milestone along the path to helping the Army perform its DE M-SHORAD mission, which is intended to deliver a maneuverable laser system capable of negating unmanned aerial systems, rotary-wing aircraft and rockets, artillery, and mortars.

Boston University (go Terriers!) Photonics Center houses some of the most sensitive scientific instruments to be found anywhere on campus, among them ion beam tools and electron microscopes. But how do they protect such delicate equipment from the vibrations caused by the estimated 105,000 vehicles that pass below on the Massachusetts Turnpike each day and the steady stream of traffic on Comm Ave, including the rumbling MBTA Green Line B trolleys? Check out this video to find out.

Purdue University (Boiler up!) researchers found that by tailoring the film thickness of conducting nitrides and oxides, specifically plasmonic titanium nitride (TiN) and aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO), they can control the materials’ optical properties, most notably their epsilon near zero (ENZ) behaviors. The TiN and AZO materials developed at Purdue also feature the lowest reported optical losses. This provides novel applications for the telecommunications field and furthers the study of many optical nonlinearities.