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Tag Archives: Photonics

At Sandia Labs, a vision for navigating when GPS goes dark

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Words like “tough” or “rugged” are rarely associated with a quantum inertial sensor. The remarkable scientific instrument can measure motion a thousand times more accurately than the devices that help navigate today’s missiles, aircraft and drones. But its delicate, table-sized array of components that includes a complex laser and vacuum system has […]

Sandia light mixer generates 11 colors simultaneously

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A multicolor laser pointer you can use to change the color of the laser with a button click — similar to a multicolor ballpoint pen — is one step closer to reality thanks to a new tiny synthetic material made at Sandia National Laboratories. A flashy laser pointer may be fun to […]

Nanotechnology experts at Sandia create first terahertz-speed polarization optical switch

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Sandia National Laboratories-led team has for the first time used optics rather than electronics to switch a nanometer-thick thin film device from completely dark to completely transparent, or light, at a speed of trillionths of a second. The team led by principal investigator Igal Brener published a Nature Photonics paper this […]

Lighting up the study of low-density materials

Sandia Labs develops way to spot defects inside hard-to-image materials ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It’s hard to get an X-ray image of low-density material like tissue between bones because X-rays just pass right through like sunlight through a window. But what if you need to see the area that isn’t bone? Sandia National Laboratories studies myriads […]