New Views on Battery Diagnostics

To improve the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles, scientists need techniques that offer insights into their internal dynamics.

by Susan Curtis

Programmable Photonics

With the addition of programmability and software, photonic chips can enter a new era of flexibility, creativity and diverse applications.

by Wim Bogaerts

A Geometric-Phase Timeline

Global change without local change—a connecting idea in the physics of optical, quantum and other waves—has a multistranded history spanning two centuries.

by Michael Berry

Newsroom

Research and Industry News

Spinning metasurface imagers / Detecting nanoplastics / Solar-powered clothes / Quantum dots catch tricky wavelengths / Film-based gamma-ray “telescope” / Industry news

Infographic

Sourcing Lithium

A look at the global distribution of lithium—a critical component in the rechargeable batteries that power electric vehicles and many of today’s electronics.

Conversations

Fiber Technology for the Future

Microsoft’s David Richardson will speak at the upcoming OFC conference about recent progress in emerging transmission fibers.

Career Focus

Embracing One-on-One Feedback

Timely course corrections are vital to professional success.

Light Touch

A Frozen Moment of Motion

The story of how William Henry Fox Talbot’s markedly unremarkable photograph may have been the first demonstration of strobe photography.

President's Message

How Do We Assess Research?

Many in our community have concerns regarding how research quality is assessed.

Looking Back

30, 20, and 10 Years Ago in OPN

Femtosecond lasers; quantum key distribution; Li-Fi.

Optica in Focus

News from the Society

Optica Community / Optics chair at Wits / Tyndall Award / Optica Fellow stories / Light Conversations / Treasurer’s Award / JLT highly cited paper / In memoriam: Dennis Hall / Online industry meeting / Structured Light and Darkness webinar / Thank you, editors and meeting chairs

After Image

Illuminated Tissue

Soft tissue (leg) contact-illuminated by an LED-panel headlight.