Articles by Abby Proch

  1. Bright Ideas — NASA Sends Space Coms With Lasers, Lidar Reveals Hidden Mesoamerican Ruins 11/3/2021

    Bright Ideas presents the most captivating news and innovations in photonics. This week, Apple joins an awareness group aiming to reduce the carbon footprint of semiconductor fabrication, and several optical imaging techniques are looking to unseat X-rays as the go-to dental image.

  2. Bright Ideas: Rubin Observatory Telescope Has World's Highest Resolution Camera, Low-Cost Underwater Microscope Could Save Seaweed 10/26/2021

    Bright Ideas presents the most captivating news and innovations in photonics. In this week's edition, acquisitions by Ouster and Jenoptik are expanding each's portfolio, the University of Arkansas is pursuing low-cost, high-performance IR camera development, and imec is introducing a breathalyzer to test for COVID-19.

  3. Bright Ideas: 10/20/21 — NIR/MWIR Advance Medical Imaging Of Tumors, Deep Tissue 10/19/2021

    Bright Ideas presents the most captivating news and innovations in photonics. In this week's edition, technicians no longer have to wait until nighttime to detect defects in solar panels, MOE lenses are making their case for replacement of refractive lenses, and robots with RF antennas and machine vision are finding lost things.

  4. Bright Ideas: 10/13/21 — U.S. Gets First Open-Access Silicon Carbide Fabrication Facility, Light Produced From "Nothing" 10/13/2021

    Bright Ideas presents the most captivating news and innovations in photonics. This week, L3Harris landed an $18.4 million contract to continue providing its electro-optical sensor systems to the U.S. military, chalcogenide glasses became useful in the visible and UV spectrum, and a more practical, less harmful phosphorescent material is found in wood. 

  5. Bright Ideas: 10/6/21 — 3D Hologram Display For Sub Warfare, UV LED Could Kill COVID-19 On Skin 10/6/2021

    Bright Ideas presents the most captivating news and innovations in photonics. This week, a UK-based firm claims it has made the world's smallest quantum computer at just four qubits, scientists are using terahertz radiation to measure ice thickness on prawns, and laser-interference structuring (LIS) could be a viable alternative to existing and environmentally-unfriendly corrosion protection methods. 

  6. Bright Ideas: 9/29/21 — Bessel Is Better For 3D Printing, Combined VCSELs Prove Possible And Powerful 9/29/2021

    Bright Ideas presents the most captivating news and innovations in photonics. This week, researchers debut a virtual reality laser laboratory to meet the challenges of high costs and educational expertise, and the Optical Society of America forgoes its 100-plus-year moniker in exchange for a more modern take. 

  7. Bright Ideas: 9/22/21 — NASA & LISA To Catch Ripples in Gravitational Field, Nikon Picks 'Small World' Winners 9/22/2021

    Bright Ideas presents the most captivating news and innovations in photonics. This week, a 3-mile laser beam successfully transmitted data across the Congo River and between two African cities, a new polarimetric imaging method is helping take clearer pictures in murky water, and the secret to cooking juicier chicken is... lasers?

  8. Bright Ideas: 9/15/21 — DoD Gives $7.5M To HBCU, Lasers Used To Zap Bugs & Bird Poop 9/15/2021

    Bright Ideas presents the most captivating news and innovations in photonics. This week, scientists invented a clock 30 times more precise than an atomic clock (and split a $3 million prize for the feat), three new photonics institutes opened up, and rainbow road signs could one day hit the streets.