Toward widespread SPAD sensors for night vision and other uses.

Discover how Artilux’s new GeSi SPAD, operating at room temperature, revolutionizes CMOS-based SWIR sensing and imaging technology. Explore the applications, implications, and the new standard set in photonics.

New angle for increasing longevity:

In a new study, scientists found that T cells can be tweaked to fight damaged cells, called senescent cells, associated with aging.

10 Centimeter Diameter metalens for astronomy.

A newly-developed “metalens” has showcased promise in capturing high-resolution images of celestial bodies like our Sun, Moon, and even some distant objects.

The Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) created the first all-glass metalens, which has a diameter of only 10 cm.

With the rising interest in capturing images of celestial objects, the innovative metalens might be a game changer in the development of next-generation optics for telescopes.

I want this.

A Chinese company called Betavolt Technology has started working on nuclear batteries, and if this turns into something that actually works, you can say goodbye to smartphone charging. Based on the information we have received, the company is working on batteries across several devices.

The nuclear batteries are able to hold a charge for 50 years. Yes, you have heard this right. If this technology ever sees the light of day and hits the mainstream, it is safe to say that our smartphone batteries will outlive many of us.

The company has talked about how they have pioneered the “miniaturization of atomic energy batteries.” Betavolt Technology managed to stuff 63 nuclear isotopes in a modular that is smaller than a coin. The model is called BV100, and it is capable of producing 100 microwatts of electricity, which should be more than enough when it comes to a smartphone.

Are you ready for a cell phone with a medium-format-sized sensor?

It’s science time. New research tells us how, with the help of metalenses and spaceplates, we don’t need conventional lenses anymore. Furthermore, that will allow manufacturers to develop tiny cameras with bigger sensors. Read the highlights of the research below.

New research has found a solution for reducing the size of cameras, by combining both metalenses and spaceplates. That combination allows a significant reduction of the glass and the length from the camera sensor. The result can be a lens-free camera and a bigger sensor. Furthermore, it’s a whole new approach for how light can be focused, and utilized, that can result in manufacturing facilitation of both cameras and lenses.

Adding a spaceplate to an imaging system such as a standard camera will shorten the camera. An ultra-thin monolithic imaging system can be formed by integrating a metalens and a spaceplate directly on a sensor.

BEIJING, Sept. 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — WiMi Hologram Cloud Inc. (NASDAQ: WIMI) (“WiMi” or the “Company”), a leading global Hologram Augmented Reality (“AR”) Technology provider, today announced that a metasurface eyepiece for augmented reality has been developed, which is based on metasurfaces composed of artificially fabricated subwavelength structures. The metasurface eyepiece employs a special optical design and engineered anisotropic optical response to achieve an ultra-wide field of view(FOV), full-color imaging, and high-resolution near-eye display.

At the heart of the WiMi’s metalens are see-through metalens with a high numerical aperture(NA), a large area and broadband characteristics. Its anisotropic optical response allows it to perform two different optical functions simultaneously. First, it can image virtual information, acting as an imaging lens for virtual information. Second, it can transmit light, serving as a transparent glass for viewing a real-world scene. This design allows the transparent metalens to be placed directly in front of the eye without the need for additional optics, resulting in a wider FOV.

Fabrication of metalens is done using nanoimprinting technology, which is capable of fabricating large-area metalens with sub-wavelength structures. First, a mould or template with the desired structure is prepared. Then, the mould or template is contacted with a transparent substrate and the nanoscale structure is transferred by applying pressure and temperature. Through this nanoimprinting process, the subwavelength structure of the metalens is successfully replicated onto the transparent substrate, resulting in the formation of the metalens.

Doing away with limiting computer data to 1’s and 0’s will increase speeds by orders of magnitude per volume of chip function.

This tiny photonic chip can multiplex optical data transmissions to support the next generation of massively scalable AI applications.

Large area metalenses are on the horizon.

In this section, we briefly discuss the presented technique of VSB/CP e-beam writing in comparison with two other contemporary high-resolution lithographic patterning approaches: multibeam e-beam lithography, also known as complementary electron beam lithography (CEBL),¹⁶ and optical lithography.

Today’s optical lithography tools are basically well able to address the feature-sizes of the elements presented in the previous section. The exposure in those tools is based on a demagnified imaging of a pattern containing photomask. With this parallel approach, optical lithography is always much faster than any direct-write technique. The central question for making a choice between optical lithography or VSB/CP-based e-beam lithography is, therefore, the effort needed to achieve the required optical performance. For the optical lithography, this is related to the quality of the mask. A high-resolution optical pattern may require a very fine approximation of the mask pattern, leading to large writing times in a mask shop and thus to considerable costs. Consequently, the choice between the different techniques must include considerations on the number of elements required and the price for which the final consumer product can be sold. This cannot be generalized.

The first SPAD camera.

TOKYO, April 3, 2023—Canon Inc. announced today that the company is developing the MS-500, the world’s first¹ ultra-high-sensitivity interchangeable-lens camera (ILC) equipped with a 1.0 inch Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) sensor² featuring the world’s highest pixel count of 3.2 megapixels³. The camera leverages the special characteristics of SPAD sensors to achieve superb low-light performance while also utilizing broadcast lenses that feature high performance at telephoto-range focal lengths. Thanks to such advantages, the MS-500 is expected to be ideal for such applications as high-precision monitoring.

ALGORITHMS TURN PHOTO SHAPSHOTS INTO 3D VIDEO AND OR IMMERSIVE SPACE. This has been termed “Neural Radiance Fields.” Now Google Maps wants to turn Google Maps into a gigantic 3D space. Three videos below demonstrate the method. 1) A simple demonstration, 2) Google’s immersive maps, and 3) Using this principle to make dark, grainy photographs clear and immersive.

This technique is different from “time of flight” cameras which make a 3D snapshot based on the time light takes to travel to and from objects, but combined with this technology, and with a constellation of microsatellites as large as cell phones, a new version of “Google Earth” with live, continual imaging of the whole planet could eventually be envisioned.

2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUP5Fry24ao.

3)

We present RawNeRF, a method for optimizing neural radiance fields directly on linear raw image data. More details at https://bmild.github.io/rawnerf.

CVPR 2022