New Atlas

Digital Cameras Audio available

World's widest hyper-fisheye lens takes in 270 degrees, sees behind itself

Loz Blain February 19, 2019

Here's an extraordinary photography project worth keeping an eye on: the Lensrentals team has been working on building the widest angle fisheye lens in existence, a C-4 Optics 4.9mm, f/3.5 hyper-fisheye monster with a 270-degree field of view - that's right, it can see behind itself.

C-4 Precision Optics is working on a bunch of extreme optics lenses, but this one's probably ...

Telecommunications Audio available

Breakthrough experiment beams audio messages across the room using only lasers

Michael Irving January 23, 2019

In the modern day, we’re used to sending messages to people over long distances, usually by way of a phone. But now, scientists at MIT have developed a way to use a laser to beam an audible message through thin air to a person standing on the other side of a room, so that only they can hear it.

he researchers use water vapor in the air to absorb light and create sound. By sweeping ...

Science

Artificial eye flexes muscle to do what the human eye can't

James Holloway February 28, 2018

Harvard has reported a breakthrough artificial eye just 30 microns in depth which can exceed the capabilities of the human eye. The technology could make a real impact in all manner of optical fields, including those in cameras, telescopes, microscopes, glasses and even virtual reality.

The complex nanostructures give the eye an iridescent sheen

Materials

DNA-doped "superlattices" could make for color-changing, cloaking materials

Michael Irving January 21, 2018

Researchers have developed a new technique to make metamaterials with nanoscale structures that can be tuned with strange optical properties. Using DNA-modified gold nanoparticles, the team could change the material's color, opening the door for new sensors or cloaking devices.

An artist's rendition of a "superlattice" of DNA-modified gold nanoparticles, which can change the optical properties ...

Telecommunications

4D quantum encryption successful in first real-world test

Michael Irving August 25, 2017

Quantum encryption could make for much less hackable communication networks. But for it to really take off it needs to work out in the real world, among other signals and natural air turbulence. Now, researchers have successfully sent a message with 4D quantum encryption between two rooftops.

Researchers have used 4D quantum encryption to transmit messages between two building rooftops in a real-world ...

Science

Focusing in on the world's sharpest laser

Michael Irving June 29, 2017

The “perfect” laser would emit light at one wavelength, but current technology can’t achieve that yet, shining across the spectrum in what scientists call “linewidth.” Now researchers have developed the world’s sharpest laser, with a linewidth of just 10 mHz (0.01 Hz).

The silicon resonator responsible for producing the world's sharpest laser, with a linewidth of just 10 ...

VR

Stanford researchers present adaptive display prototypes for virtual reality

Emily Ferron February 14, 2017

Researchers at Stanford University have built some VR display prototypes that adapt to the eyes of each wearer, which could pave the way for more comfortable virtual experiences for everyone, regardless of age, eyesight or focusing problems.

Leading VR headsets like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive don't have adaptive displays, but researchers ...

Space

Testing the world's blackest material in orbit

Anthony Wood May 16, 2016

A cutting edge light retardant coating designed to reduce the interference to the delicate optical equipment mounted on space probes is being put through its paces aboard the Kent Ridge 1 satellite, which launched into low-Earth orbit (LEO) in Dec. 2015.

The spray-on coating absorbs 99.98 of the light impacting its surface

Robotics

Robots with "eyes" in their hands may prove more dextrous than others

Colin Jeffrey October 2, 2015

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a robotic hand with "eyes" built into its fingers, making it far more sensitive to position and force than conventional machine grippers.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a three-fingered robot hand that's extremely sensitive to touch ...

Mobile Technology

Smartphone microscope lens that costs just pennies to make

Colin Jeffrey May 12, 2015

Researchers at the University of Houston (UH) have created a polymer lens designed to fit on almost any smartphone and to magnify images up to 120 times their original size, all at an estimated production cost of just three cents per lens.

Viewing the surface of a leaf on a smartphone through the low-cost lens developed at UH ...