When Darwin Quiroz first started working with optics as an undergraduate, he was developing atomic magnetometers. That experience sparked a growing curiosity about how light interacts with matter, an interest that has now led him to a new technique in optical imaging.
Quiroz, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, is co-first author of a new study that demonstrates how a fluid-based optical device known as an electrowetting prism can be used to steer lasers at high speeds for advanced imaging applications.
The work, published in Optics Express, conducted along with mechanical engineering Ph.D. graduate Eduardo Miscles and Mo Zohrabi, senior research associate, opens the door to new technologies in microscopy, LiDAR, optical communications and even brain imaging.