The hunt for Earth-like planets, and perhaps extraterrestrial life, just got more precise, thanks to record-setting starlight measurements made possible by a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) "astrocomb."
Astronomy
Feb 19, 2019
1
151
Optical frequency combs are laser sources whose spectrum consists of a series of discrete, equally spaced frequency lines that can be used for precise measurements. In the last two decades, they have become a major tool for ...
Optics & Photonics
Feb 12, 2019
0
113
Most lasers emit photons of exactly the same wavelength, producing a single color. However, there are also lasers that consist of many frequencies, with equal intervals in between, as in the teeth of a comb; thus, they are ...
Optics & Photonics
Dec 11, 2018
0
234
Russian physicists have developed a method for drastically narrowing the emission spectrum of an ordinary diode laser, like that in a laser pointer. This makes their device a useful replacement for the more complex and expensive ...
Optics & Photonics
Nov 2, 2018
5
563
Optical frequency combs can enable ultrafast processes in physics, biology, and chemistry, as well as improve communication and navigation, medical testing, and security. The Nobel Prize in Physics 2005 was awarded to the ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 8, 2018
4
257
Ultrashort optical pulses are becoming increasingly relevant in a number of applications, including distance measurement, molecular fingerprinting and ultrafast sampling. Many of these applications rely not only on a single ...
Optics & Photonics
Oct 1, 2018
1
65
A new instrument to search for potentially habitable/inhabited planets has started operation at the Subaru Telescope. This instrument, IRD (InfraRed Doppler), will look for habitable planets around red dwarf stars. Astronomers ...
Astronomy
Jul 2, 2018
0
18
University of Adelaide researchers have created a laser that can "smell" different gases within a sample.
Optics & Photonics
Jun 7, 2018
0
28
A laser-based technique that can scan and lock on to molecular vibrational signals that are normally too complex to resolve clearly could enable production of sensors for multi-species identification in harsh environments, ...
Optics & Photonics
May 23, 2018
0
5
Wi-Fi and cellular data traffic are increasing exponentially but, unless the capacity of wireless links can be increased, all that traffic is bound to lead to unacceptable bottlenecks.
Optics & Photonics
Apr 30, 2018
0
77
