Optics & Photonics News - December 2006

Optics & Photonics News Magazine
December 2006 Issue

Feature Articles

Optics in 2006 Introduction

The areas covered in 2006 include array detectors, Bloch oscillations, coherent imaging, diffractive optics, imaging, metamaterials, nonlinear optics, optical beams, opto-mechanics, polarization, Raman spectroscopy, soft X-rays and ultrafast science.

by Bob D. Guenther

Array Detectors

Fabrics that “See”: Photosensitive Fiber Constructs.

by Ayman F. Abouraddy, Ofer Shapira, Mehmet Bayindir, Jerimy Arnold, John D. Joannopoulos and Yoel Fink

Bloch Oscillations

Photonic Bloch Oscillations and Zener Tunnelling

by Henrike Trompeter, Andreas Bräuer, Anton S. Desyatnikov, Yuri S. Kivshar, Wieslaw Krolikowski, Falk Lederer, Dirk Michaelis, Dragomir N. Neshev, Thomas Pertsch, Ulf Peschel, Ulrich Streppel and Andrey A. Sukhorukov

Coherent Imaging

Variable Coherence Allows Subwavelength Resolution Sensing.

by E. Baleine and A. Dogariu

Diffractive Optics

Computer-Generated Volume Holograms Optimize Degrees of Freedom in 3D Aperiodic Structures.

by Wenjian Cai, Timothy D. Gerke, Theodore J. Reber, Ariel Libertun and Rafael Piestun

Imaging

Localizing Defects on Circuits Using High-Resolution OFT

by Carlo Mar Blanca, Vernon Julius Cemine, Bernardino Buenaobra and Caesar Saloma

Metamaterials

Nano-Dispersed Liquid Crystal with Tunable Negative-Zero-Positive Refractive Indices

by I.C. Khoo, D.H. Werner and A. Diaz

Nonlinear Optics

Supercontinuum Generation in Sub-Centimeter Lengths of High-Nonlinearity Photonic Crystal Fibers

by Fiorenzo G. Omenetto, Natalie A. Wolchover, Mackenzie R. Wehner, Matt Ross, Anatoly Efimov, Antoinette Taylor, V. Ravi K. Kumar, Alan K. George, Jonathan C. Knight, Nicolas Y. Joly and Philip St. J. Russell

Optical Beams

White Light Takes Shape.

by Pascal Fischer, Ewan M. Wright, Tom Brown, Wilson Sibbett, Jill E. Morris, Carlos López-Mariscal, Antonia E. Carruthers and Kishan Dholakia

Opto-mechanical

Fiber-Top Cantilevers: A New Sensor on the Tip of a Fiber

by Davide Iannuzzi, Szabolcs Deladi and Michael Elwenspoek

Polarization

Mueller Matrix Approach for Discriminating Optical Rotation

by S. Manhas, M.K. Swami, P. Buddhiwant, N. Ghosh, P.K. Gupta and K. Singh

Raman Spectroscopy

Large-Aperture Raman Spectroscopy for Quantitative Chemometrics

by Scott T. McCain, Michael E. Gehm, Yanqia Wang, Nikos P. Pitsianis and David J. Brady

Soft X-ray

High Harmonic Generation from Ions in a Capillary Discharge Plasma Waveguide

by David M. Gaudiosi, Brendan Reagan, Tenio Popmintchev, Michael Grisham, Mark Berrill, Oren Cohen, Barry C. Walker, Margaret M. Murnane, Henry C. Kapteyn and Jorge J. Rocca

Ultrafast

As we become more able to control the length and accuracy of optical pulses, the field is expanding into new uses for ultrashort pulses.

by Luis Miaja-Avila, Guido Saathoff, Chifong Lei, Martin Aeschlimann, John L. Gland, Margaret M. Murnane and Henry C. Kapteyn

Departments and Columns

Scatterings

Physicist's snowflakes grace holiday stamps; single-pixel camera; effects of aging on women's skin

The History of OSA

JOSA B: Optical Physics

When the series of the Journal of the Optical Society of America (JOSA) ended in December 1983 and the first issue of JOSA A appeared in January 1984, Robert Terhune had achieved only half of his grand scheme to revamp JOSA. Now it was time to focus on JOSA B.

Viewpoint

Talking to your Government Officials: Why It Matters

I’ve learned a lot during my tenure as chair of OSA’s Public Policy Committee. Not only is it possible for individuals to make a difference in the lawmaking process, it happens regularly. Scientists and their constituents matter to government decision-makers. Their insights matter. Their opinions matter.

Education

What Girls Need to Succeed in Science, Technology and Math

The root of the problem with engaging girls in science, technology, engineering and math is that young women often feel that these fields are difficult to understand and almost impossible to master. While we know this isn’t true, it is becoming all the more apparent that we have to reach young women and inspire a passion for these fields at an early age.

Washington Focus

Post-9/11 Security: Better for Scientists, but not Perfect

Some post-9/11 security measures may have had the unintended effect of slowing scientific progress. Science advocates today say the situation is improving, but that too many limitations remain and that the implementation of legitimate restrictions should be fine-tuned.

Photo Contest

And the Winners Are ... Results from OPN's After Image Photo Contest.

Earlier this year, OPN invited its readers to participate in our fi rst ever After Image Photo Contest. We were delighted to receive 34 submissions that capture compelling aspects of laser science, atmospheric optics, astronomy, microscopy, optical coatings, optical design and more.