Optics in 2008

This special issue of Optics & Photonics News (OPN) highlights the most exciting research to emerge in the preceding 12 months in the fast-paced world of optics.

Beam Engineering

By properly shaping the waveform, we can now control the diffraction of light.

Biophotonics

Optics has provided key tools for advancing modern and traditional biology. Now it may play a role in reducing medical costs.

Diffractive Structures

Photonic structures began in the search for localization associated with defects. Now, however, localized states have been demonstrated in defect-free media.

Lasers

We have created lasers with operating properties that we never would have dreamed of when the technology was invented 50 years ago.

Material Processing

Short optical pulses provide useful material processing capability.

Microscopy

We continue to find new performance enhancements even for mature technologies like optical microscopy

Nano-optics

The coupling of micro-fluidics and array imaging opens a fascinating area of research.

Nonlinear Optics

Nonlinear optical response has enhanced our ability to produce coherent light throughout the optical spectral region.

Optical Engineering

New waveform generation provides the experimentalist with interesting new tools

Optical Storage

Temporal storage of optical signals is a needed capability in communications.

Optical Tweezers

First discovered in 1970, optical tweezers can now be generated and controlled.

Plasmonics

Electron-spin-based photonic devices are a hot topic in optical research.

Quantum Optics

It is now possible to conduct optical experiments on systems that exhibit strongly correlated behavior.

Remote Sensing

We continue to develop more sensitive systems for the remote sensing of biological and chemical trace components.

Scattering

We have missed the presence of resonant scattering behavior in the Rayleigh region for years, but a clue was lurking in quantum theory.

Terahertz Technology

This frequency range has had a variety of names since the 1960s, and researchers continue to be interested in exploiting this spectral region.

Ultrafast Optics

We describe a novel short pulse laser system.

Bridging the Gap

The Australian National University’s Student Chapter recently conducted an optics outreach program targeting teens in a remote part of Australia.

Sea Change: A History of Submarine Periscopes

The complicated story of a seemingly simple maritime technology.

Photo Caption Contest Results

We received many witty responses to our recent solicitation for creative descriptions of three historical photos. Here are some of our favorites.

The Quest for Women Scientists

The National Science Foundation, the National Academies of Sciences and other U.S. organizations are looking for a few good women—well, more than a few—to pursue careers in the sciences.

Phase Mask Could Boost Iris Recognition Systems

Biometric imaging devices that recognize the unique fibrous structures of the human eye have been touted for security applications. An engineer has developed a phase mask that would make image acquisition easier for subjects to use by increasing the camera’s depth of field.

Early OSA Honors and Awards

Early in OSA’s history, two special honors were created to recognize optical pioneers.

Researchers Demonstrate Single-Photon Modulation

A team from Stanford University has demonstrated the modulation or "shaping" of single photons in the laboratory.

Did You Know?

Hubble Space Telescope repair mission status update.

Book Reviews

Letters

OSA Foundation: Year-End Giving

OSA Today

President’s Message

In Memory

Remembering Ralph R. Jacobs and Edmond M. Reeves.