Materials Processing News

1. 25 Reasons To Attend SPIE Photonics West 2025 1/7/2025

   SPIE Photonics West 2025, scheduled for January 25–30 in San Francisco, offers numerous benefits for professionals in the optics and photonics industry. Here are 25 reasons to attend.

2. A Look Back At The Year That Was 12/10/2024

   It’s that time again. Let’s take a look at the most-read articles that appeared on Photonics Online this past year. Why, it’s become an annual event!

3. 3 Rock-Solid Predictions (j/k) About What To Expect From Photonics In 2024 12/7/2023

   Before 2023 comes to an end we want to go on record with three things that we guarantee will happen in 2024.

   (Guarantee not valid anywhere, anytime, and/or any place. Void everywhere.)

4. 2023's Best: Methane Super Emitters, The Valley Of Death, Hidden Cities, And Maple Syrup 12/6/2023

   It’s that time again. Let’s take a look at the most-read articles that appeared on Photonics Online this year. It’s got intrigue, suspense, and surprises. Oh, and infrared, LiDAR, and so much more.

5. Bright Ideas — Russia's Latest Laser Weapon Likely All Talk, "Wonder Material" Graphyne Created 5/23/2022

   Bright Ideas presents the most captivating news and innovations in photonics. This week, a Russian official says the country's newest directed-energy laser weapon can "burn up" a target — and critics balk at the claim. Scientists are on their way to developing a usable amount of graphyne. Plus, DARPA and CACI successfully conducted optical communication between satellites in LEO.

6. Bright Ideas — Fraunhofer ISE Doubles Solar Cell Processing Output, LLNL Finds 3D Printer Defects With Laser-Based Ultrasound 5/4/2022

   Bright Ideas presents the most captivating news and innovations in photonics. This week, LLNL researchers are debuting a new laser-based ultrasound method for detecting tiny surface and subsurface defects in laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) 3D metal printing, while Fraunhofer ISE is revealing its high-efficiency process for producing more than 15,000 large-scale solar panel wafers in just one hour — about twice as much as the industry standard. 

7. Bright Ideas — Solar Power Creates Sustainable Aircraft Fuel, Webb Telescope Camera Ready For Launch 11/17/2021

   Bright Ideas presents the most captivating news and innovations in photonics. This week, teams with the James Webb Space Telescope confirm its camera and spectrograph are ready for launch, a floating-solar and hydro-power plant hybrid is producing electricity near a dam in Thailand, and sustainable aircraft fuel is made from only sunlight and ambient air.

8. Bright Ideas: 8/30/21 — NASA's MISR Analyzes Wildfire Smoke, LiDAR To Detect Pipeline Methane Leaks 8/26/2021

   Bright Ideas presents the most captivating news and innovations in photonics. This week, a 3D-printed microscope detects COVID-19 in a single drop of blood, and scientists use imaging and machine learning to identify drought-tolerant crops. 

9. Understanding Diamond And Its Relationship With Optics 9/17/2018

   The combination of diamond’s broadband transparency, chemical inertness, low absorption, and highest-known thermal conductivity offers benefits for applications running at either high power levels or high-power densities.

10. Where Is Autonomous Mobility Going In Such A Hurry? 2/26/2018

    Autonomous mobility’s progress has been achieved in fits and starts, though the past few years have seen accelerated development in its enabling technologies.