Metrology

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded for research inspired by jellyfish. This is a reminder that the natural world continues to hint at solutions to modern technological dilemmas, and that when it comes to simple and effective solutions, nature is usually well ahead of man.

Scientists exploit the use of Airy beams — an unusual class of optical waves — in optical manipulation. The beam can be used to transport particles along curved paths without moving the light beam, a technique that seems poised for many microfluidic applications especially in the biological sciences.

Hollow-core photonic-crystal fibres enable confinement of light on a much tighter scale than is possible with conventional fibre. But dispersion makes it difficult to transmit very short, sub 100 fs, pulses over long distances. A chirped structure could offer a solution.

An organic LED that acts as an electrically driven source of surface plasmons is reported. The device generates a freely propagating beam of surface plasmons and has potential applications in integrated organic photonics and sensing.

Tiny optical cavities can influence spontaneous emission of light from atoms and their artificial equivalent, quantum dots. In the past, two–dimensional photonic crystals have been used to create such cavities for quantum dots, now a three–dimensional structure enables full confinement of light in all directions.

Low-cost, efficient solar cells are sought as an alternative to silicon photovoltaics. Here a dye-based bifacial solar cell that is capable of efficient generation of electricity for light incident on either its front or rear face is demonstrated.

Famous for its use in clothing since early times, silk is now finding a new application as a useful biocompatible material in photonic devices. Thin films, diffraction gratings and organic photonic crystals are just a few of the exciting possibilities.

By introducing a radial chirp in the dimension of the cells surrounding the central core, researchers now demonstrate a low-dispersion photonic-crystal fibre that could overcome the long-standing problem of ultrashort-pulse delivery.

A bifacial dye-sensitized solar cell that can efficiently generate electricity when illuminated from either side may help bring down the cost of solar energy production.

Researchers have demonstrated the first photonic-crystal system with light emitters that experience three-dimensional photonic and electronic confinement.

The ability of Airy light beams to transport microparticles along curved, self-healed paths may lead to useful applications in biology and colloidal science.

Improvements in interferometry have made it a powerful and attractive technique for characterizing tiny devices based on microelectromechanical systems.

The development of the pixelated polarization camera is enabling dynamic interferometry, a new metrology technique that is insensitive to vibration and suits use in an industrial environment.

The advent of three-dimensional optical metrology has brought many benefits to industrial quality control of aircraft engines, according to the turbine-blade manufacturer GE.

Nadya Anscombe talks to Wolfgang Osten, director of the Institute for Applied Optics, about the challenges that optical metrology faces in keeping pace with demands from industry.

The demonstration that Airy beams can transport small particles along curved paths of light may lead to a wealth of new applications in optical micromanipulation. Nature Photonics spoke to Kishan Dholakia from the University of St Andrews in Scotland about the idea.