Although current microscopic optical systems are highly sensitive, they are generally bulky and expensive, and most have a severely limited field of vision. One alternative is adaptive microlenses tha...
Learn More

A UW-Madison researcher has designed a modified optical table that allows vertical access so that any individual can stand or sit and access the entire surface. The design provides a support for an op...
Learn More

UW-Madison researchers and others have developed a high-speed sequencing method using a novel nanopore technology. As nucleotides pass through the nanopore, changes in the emitted light frequency enab...
Learn More

Coherent light sources, in which the photons have highly matched frequencies and phases, are commonly produced by lasers. In a laser, the atoms of a laser medium are stimulated to excite the electrons...
Learn More

A UW-Madison researcher has developed a method for predicting subsurface mechanical properties using distributed strain measurements obtained from applied perturbations. The method relies on model cha...
Learn More

An optical sensor for sensing combustion products avoids fouling and damage to optical components by using a “windowless” design in which an air curtain through an orifice provides a constantly re...
Learn More

Optoelectronic devices that use very thin single-crystalline inorganic semiconductor films as phonon-absorbing layers in combination with non-lattice optical cavities are provided.
Learn More

Method for imaging regions of a sample using a light source and an optical detection means and at least one device for moving the sample in three dimensions, comprising the following method steps: a) ...
Learn More

A wavefront sensor system suitable for integration into an integrated circuit light detector may provide for wave angle sensors having varying functional relationships between the wave angle and signa...
Learn More

The functional effect of having additional color-sensing cone types in the human eye is implemented by an encoding of some spectral information differently for the left and right eyes. This different ...
Learn More

An optical field sensor is used to make phase measurements over an area of light reflected from an object outside a field of view of the light field sensor. These phase measurements are applied to a m...
Learn More

An apparatus for measurement of surface relief provides a phase sensitive camera and processing to reconstruct a wavefront profile matching the surface when illuminated with a known light source there...
Learn More

Optical phase tuning is highly desired in many precision and imaging tools used by industry, in medicine and in biological research. Various optical phase shifters (OPS) and methods exist, each with c...
Learn More

An optical resonator is an arrangement of optical components that allows a beam of light to circulate in a closed path. Nanoresonators are a type of optical resonator that can effectively concentrate ...
Learn More

A Fresnel lens or ‘zone plate’ is a type of compact lens made of concentric rings that alternate between opaque and transparent materials. The design is lighter and smaller than conventional lense...
Learn More

Germanium (Ge), a group-IV semiconductor material, is crucial to many established and potential technologies. In optoelectronics, Ge has been used as a photodetector material for on-chip data distribu...
Learn More

Spectrometers are optical instruments used to measure light. They work by detecting spectral lines and measuring their wavelength or intensity. Spectrometers have many applications, including telecomm...
Learn More

‘Variable-focus’ lenses are lenses that have adjustable focal lengths. Liquid-based, miniaturized lenses of this type are useful in photonics, display systems and biomedical tools. However, they a...
Learn More

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) imaging has demonstrated its ability to monitor interactions between biological moieties in real time without the aid of chemical labels such as fluorophores and radioi...
Learn More

Responsive hydrogels can respond to external stimuli such as temperature, pH, photons and antigens, which makes them applicable as functional materials in drug/gene delivery devices, microlenses and s...
Learn More

Flexible single-crystalline semiconductors used in high-performance micro- and macro-electronics have been intensely studied in recent years.  Thin-film transistors using single crystalline silicon, ...
Learn More

One component of lab-on-a-chip technology is on-chip microlenses for optical analysis. Prior investigators have demonstrated tiny optical lenses with variable focal lengths. These lenses use specializ...
Learn More

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) have been used to create mechanical resonators for switching, filtering and other purposes in electrical systems. NEMS/ME...
Learn More

Computer chips, composed of silicon (Si) semiconductors, store and transmit information as electrons.  The negative charge on electrons, however, hinders the speed with which information can be trans...
Learn More

Systems based on terahertz (THz) radiation technology show promise for communication and imaging applications.  These systems can penetrate through many materials and are sensitive enough to resonate...
Learn More