RPMC Lasers Blog

“One of the most fascinating predictions of quantum mechanics is entanglement, where widely separated particles can be prepared so that they behave as a single unit,” Ulf Danielsson, secretary of the Nobel Committee for Physics, tells Popular Mechanics. “The groundbreaking experiments of Clauser, Aspect, and Zeilinger show that this mind-boggling phenomenon persists at macroscopic distances, demonstrating the deficiency of our classical int… Read More

Called ZEUS, the Zetawatt-Equivalent Ultrashort pulse laser System, it will explore the physics of the quantum universe as well as outer space, and it is expected to contribute to new technologies in medicine, electronics and national… Read More

Lockheed Martin has delivered its most powerful laser to date to the US military’s Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering OUSD (R&E) ahead of schedule for installation in new laser weapon demonstrators designed to engage a variety o… Read More

When squeezed to about a million times Earth’s atmospheric pressure and heated to thousands of degrees Celsius, polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, forms nanodiamonds, physicist Dominik Kraus and colleagues report September 2 in Science… Read More

For the first time, astronomers have used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to take a direct image of a planet outside our solar system. The exoplanet is a gas giant, meaning it has no rocky surface and could not be … Read More

Imagine walking into an airport or grocery store and your smartphone automatically starts charging. This could be a reality one day, thanks to a new wireless laser charging system that overcomes some of the challenges that have hindered previous attempts to develop safe and convenient on-the-go chargin… Read More

Finding water on the moon could be easier with a Goddard technology that uses an effect called quantum tunneling to generate a high-powered terahertz laser, filling a gap in existing laser t… Read More

Laser communications systems provide missions with increased data rates, meaning they can send and receive more information in a single transmission compared to traditional radio waves. Additionally, the systems are lighter, more flexible, and more secure. Laser communications can supplement radio frequency communications, which most NASA missions us… Read More

Researchers have developed a new chip-based beam steering technology that provides a promising route to small, cost-effective and high-performance lidar (or light detection and ranging… Read More

With faster speeds and the ability to run multiple algorithms at one time, quantum computers will be able to help solve some of the biggest technological issues our society faces. Because quantum computers rely on what are called qubits–atoms that possess a nuclear magnetic spin level that is manipulated in order to achieve the qubit state–unique things occasionally happen within thes… Read More

Bringing Mars samples to Earth would allow scientists across the world to examine the specimens using sophisticated instruments too large and too complex to send to Mars and would enable future generations to study them. Curating the samples on Earth would also allow the science community to test new theories and models as they are developed, much as the Apollo samples returned from the Moon have done fo… Read More

Early data from the James Webb Space Telescope is already starting to come in, with exciting finds like views of Jupiter and a potential sighting of the most distant galaxy ever observed. But there’s a lot more Webb data being shared, and much of it is publicly available through the Space Telescope Science Institute’s MAST archive. That means enterprising astronomers are already digging through James Webb data to perform their own analyses, and have created some amazin… Read More

Researchers have shown that a quantum-inspired technique can be used to perform LiDAR imaging with a much higher depth resolution than is possible with conventional approaches. LiDAR, which uses laser pulses to acquire 3D information about a scene or object, is usually best suited for imaging large objects such as topographical features or built structures due to its limited depth res… Read More

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have uncovered critical new details about fusion facilities that use lasers to compress the fuel that produces fusion energy. The new data could help lead to the improved design of future laser facilities that harness the fusion process that drives the sun an… Read More

Environmental sensors are a step closer to simultaneously sniffing out multiple gases that could indicate disease or pollution, thanks to a Penn State coll… Read More

HB11 is approaching nuclear fusion from an entirely new angle, using high power, high precision lasers instead of hundred-mill… Read More

In most circumstances, disordered working conditions prevent us from performing accurate work. But in a reversal of this common wisdom, a team of researchers from the University of Adelaide and the University of St Andrews, Scotland has achieved recent breakthroughs in precision measurement by “scrambling” la… Read More

A new photonic effect in semiconducting helical particles with nanoscale dimensions has been discovered by an international team of scientists led by researchers at the University of Bath. The observed effect has the potential to accelerate the discovery and development of life-saving medicines and photonic tec… Read More

New experiments allow researchers to watch attosecond laser pulse pairs up close, allowing for a better understanding and control over these ultrashort pulse pairs. This interesting breakthrough could lead to some amazing advancements in spectroscopy, microelectronic manufacturing, medical equipment and surgeries, and who knows what else… This article explains this new development and discusses the potential future… Read More

The United Kingdom is investing roughly $100 million in new directed energy weapons across sea and land. Split into three contracts, and announced September 14 at the Defense and Security Equipment International exhibition in London, two of the direct energy weapons will be lasers that can stop drones, while the third will use radio to detect and track targets. It’s a push for a new kind of weapon that can face a new kind of threat, and do so cost-ef… Read More

Blue diode lasers have recently become known as an excellent tool for certain processing techniques regarding copper and other non-ferrous and highly reflective metals. Copper, gold, aluminum, and certain other metals absorb blue wavelengths more easily than any other wavelengths of visible or invisible light. This higher rate of absorption allows for both higher quality results and faster processing times, when typically, there is a trade off between quality … Read More

Short wavelength infrared (SWIR) applications like laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), night vision, range finding, and time-of-flight (ToF) LiDAR benefit from the utilization of rugged, low SWaP. These applications often require the associated hardware components to be resistant to harsh environmental conditions in the field. Operating temperature range, shock and vibration, and size, weight, and power constraints are among the critical considerations when choosing the right laser tr… Read More

Steady growth in the nuclear industry has led to an increase in demand for more accurate, efficient, and reliable detection and monitoring of critical compounds, like Uranium hexafluoride (UF6) assay or Methyl Iodide (CH3i). This has led to the development of new technologies, enhancing the capabilities of molecular spectroscopy. Entities worldwide are developing advanced spectroscopy-based technologies and methods, aiming to decrease accidents with better safeguards, enable the rapid and precise assessment of nuclear plant … Read More

In business for over 20 years, with nearly 10,000 units fielded, the experts at Bright Solutions have built a history of success and have gained a vast amount of applications experience. In their modern applications lab, ideal for proof-of-concept testing and sample processing, they provide a host of DPSS laser configurations with a range of wavelengths and power levels, have a dedicated staff with years of application experience, and even offer process developmen… Read More

It is well known that the output beam characteristic of a multimode laser diode is inherently non-uniform, due to both spatial and temporal variations of the mode profile, that result from thermal lensing and filamentation. These non-uniformities (‘hot-spots’ and ‘dark-spots’) can lead to deleterious effects for many applications, including solid-state laser pumping, Raman spectroscopy of sensitive materials, laser speckle contrast imaging, and laser ill… Read More