Year: 2024

As light waves propagate through a medium, they experience a temporal delay, revealing vital information about the structural and compositional characteristics of the material. Quantitative Phase Imaging (QPI) is an advanced optical technique that captures variations in optical path length as light passes through biological samples, materials, and other transparent structures. Unlike traditional imaging methods that rely on staining or labeling, QPI allows researchers to visualize and quantify phase variations, generating high-contrast images for noninvasive investigations essential in fields such as biology, materials science, and engineering.

In a groundbreaking study published on July 25 in Advanced Photonics, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have introduced an innovative approach to 3D QPI using a wavelength-multiplexed diffractive optical processor. This new method addresses the limitations of traditional 3D QPI techniques, which are often time-consuming and computationally demanding.

Scientists have made significant strides in innovation, transitioning from bid-like drones to self-powered “bug” robots. Researchers from Binghamton University, the State University of New York, have developed a tiny, bug-like robot designed to explore the Ocean Internet of Things (IoT), potentially transforming marine monitoring.

Inspired by biological digestion, these advanced robots are equipped with a self-sustained energy system. Futurists predict that by 2035, over one trillion autonomous devices will be integrated into all aspects of human life as part of the IoT. Most of these objects, regardless of size, will likely collect and transmit data to a central database without human intervention.

“The conventional optical fibers that form the backbone of today’s telecommunications networks transmit light at wavelengths determined by the losses of silica glass,” says Dr. Kristina Rusimova from the Department of Physics at the University of Bath. “However, these wavelengths are incompatible with the operational wavelengths of single-photon sources, qubits, and active optical components essential for light-based quantum technologies.”

Enter the microstructured optical fiber. Unlike traditional optical fibers with solid glass cores, these new fibers feature a complex pattern of air pockets running along their entire length. This seemingly simple change unlocks a myriad of possibilities for controlling and manipulating light in ways crucial for quantum technologies. One of the most exciting applications of these fibers is in creating the building blocks of a quantum internet. By carefully designing the structure of these fibers, researchers can generate pairs of entangled photons—particles of light that remain inextricably linked regardless of the distance between them. This quantum entanglement is the essential ingredient that enables many quantum technologies.

China’s Tsinghua University has achieved a groundbreaking milestone by demonstrating the inherent safety of the first operating commercial pebble-bed nuclear reactor. By shutting off the power and allowing the passive systems to maintain control of the reactor core, the university showcased the advanced safety features of this next-generation technology.

Older nuclear reactors, such as Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR), have a significant design drawback—they require active measures to shut down in an emergency, and their safety systems depend on an external power source to run coolant pumps. These systems can fail catastrophically if the power source is compromised, as seen in the Fukushima disaster of 2011. The plant, based on an outdated 1970s design, was hit by an earthquake and a tsunami that knocked out its backup diesel generators. The resulting chaos prevented emergency crews from intervening in time, leading to a hydrogen explosion and reactor core meltdown.