January 2008 Issue
Feature Articles
High-Brightness LEDs
High-brightness LEDs offer cost-effective, energy-efficient lighting solutions across the entire visible spectrum.
by William J. CassarlyIntegrated Optical Devices in Lithium Niobate
Researchers have developed an array of new optical devices based on lithium niobate, including waveguide structures, electro-optical wavelength filters and polarization controllers, lasers with remarkable properties, nonlinear frequency converters of exceptional efficiency, ultrafast all-optical signal processing devices and single photon sources.
by Wolfgang Sohler, Hui Hu, Raimund Ricken, Viktor Quiring, Christoph Vannahme, Harald Herrmann, Daniel Büchter, Selim Reza, Werner Grundkötter, Sergey Orlov, Hubertus Suche, Rahman Nouroozi and Yoohong MinReport from FiO/LS 2007: Crystallizing the Future of Optics
Frontiers in Optics (FiO) 2007, OSA’s 91st annual meeting, brought the latest research in optics and photonics to San Jose, Calif. Among other topics, the conference focused on nanophotonics and photonic crystals, optical materials, optics for energy production and biomedical applications.
by Patricia DaukantasDepartments and Columns
Changing Perceptions About Optics
A new OSA Foundation-sponsored exhibit was designed to change students’ perceptions about light and vision—literally and figuratively.
Lens Performance Budgeting Using the Hopkins Ratio
The Hopkins ratio provides a mathematically rigorous link between the two metrics that are most often used to specify a lens: the root-mean-square wavefront error (WFE) and the modulation transfer function (MTF). This ratio can be used to develop WFE budgets that provide insight into MTF performance.
Oxxius: Seeing the light toward laser solutions.
After the telecom bubble burst, laser technology beckoned for the founder of this early-stage company in France.
Fine-Tuned Lasers Zap Deadly Germs
An interdisciplinary group of researchers is studying new ways to kill disease-causing viruses with a visible-light femtosecond laser.
Lab-on-a-Chip Integrates Microfluidics, Optical Traps
In a new type of “lab-on-a-chip” technology, particles in a microfluidic system are sorted by light.
Did You Know?
LEDs make Rockefeller Center shine.
![An artist’s rendering of a pulse of circularly polarized light hitting a 2D semiconductor. [Illustration by S. Alvey / University of Michigan]](https://opnmedia.blob.core.windows.net/$web/opn/media/images/articles/2025/0125/departments/202501-cover-web.jpg?ext=.jpg)
