Rokid Global@RokidGlobalOptics and AIAI score2424

Great to see our smart glasses helping bring on-device native VLMs into real industrial workflows. This is exactly the value an open ecosystem can unlock: models, chips and devices working together to create real-world value. 😎 https://twitter.com/STL_AI/status/2110219163767853414

2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Awarded for Optogenetics, Giving Brain-Computer Interfaces a Precision Writing Tool

The Karolinska Institute has announced that the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine goes to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel for the discovery of light-gated ion channels and optogenetics. The article explains how the channelrhodopsin ChR2 is activated by blue light and discusses how optogenetics adds precision writing capability to brain-computer interfaces.

Lightwave Poll: Converting Traditional Telecom Central Offices into Data Centers

Lightwave has launched a reader poll on the practice of carriers such as AT&T and Verizon converting traditional central office facilities into data centers after shutting down copper-based voice services. Verizon said on its second-quarter earnings call that it is converting central offices to support AI inference.

Leqi second-generation AI glasses outlook: four optical challenges for diffractive waveguides

The article argues that AI capabilities can be upgraded over the air, but the optical experience of a diffractive waveguide is hard to fix once finalized. The development of Leqi's second-generation AI glasses focuses on four engineering challenges: hiding the grating, suppressing rainbow artifacts, thinning the lens, and reducing reflections while preserving brightness. These are also the issues consumer AI glasses must solve to look like ordinary eyewear.

iPhone Duo boosts under-display cameras; Red Magic to launch ninth-generation solution

Under-display cameras are back in the spotlight after the unveiling of Apple's first foldable phone, the iPhone Duo. Red Magic has also announced ninth-generation under-display camera technology, continuing with a true full-screen design. The article reviews how most makers returned to punch-hole designs after under-display cameras entered mass production six years ago.

Build vs. Buy for Laser Beam Analysis: 11 Considerations

A Laser Focus World article weighs building a laser beam analysis solution against buying one, noting that although high-quality cameras and low-cost computing are widely available and a home-built beam profiler may seem simple, 11 factors need to be considered in practice.

Laser Focus World Podcast: Expert Insights on Photonics and Quantum Computing

Laser Focus World has launched a podcast featuring experts discussing photonics and quantum computing.

AI Glasses Begin to Offer Proactive Services

An article by VR Tuoluo notes that some AI glasses can now record everyday conversations with user permission, organize key information into searchable long-term memory, and extract schedules from conversations to send proactive reminders. Brands including RayNeo have introduced such features.

Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy Support Precision Agriculture

A Laser Focus World article describes how photonics provides new measurement tools for agriculture, including monitoring crop conditions, assessing food quality and controlling plant growth.

Maxphotonics faces growth challenges after becoming first to ship 10,000 10 kW lasers

An article by OFweek Laser notes that in 2025 Maxphotonics became the first company worldwide to ship 10,000 10 kW-class fiber lasers. Drawing on observations from the Shanghai industry fair, the article discusses how 10 kW lasers can sustain growth as the fiber laser industry shifts from price wars to competition on new fronts.

Zuckerberg's net worth rises to fourth in the world as Meta smart glasses and AI business draw attention

On September 24, Zuckerberg's net worth reached about $266.4 billion, surpassing Michael Dell to become the world's fourth-richest person. Meta shares closed at $777.59 that day, up about 36% in September. The article argues that the AI agent Muse, launched on September 8, boosted market sentiment, and discusses Meta's smart glasses business.

Can High-Power Laser Diodes Drive Inertial Fusion Energy?

A Laser Focus World article notes that fusion research has shifted toward private investment over the past five years after more than 60 years of public funding. The article examines whether high-power laser diodes are ready to drive inertial fusion energy (IFE).

Smartphone Market Battle Royale: The Imaging War Keeps Escalating

Smartphone makers have entered another intensive product launch cycle, with larger sensors, longer telephoto reach, stronger stabilization and computational photography remaining key launch highlights. The article argues that as performance and displays mature, imaging remains the core battleground for differentiation and winning premium users.

Qwen N1 Pro and Wigain Flow Add Eye Sensing, as AI Glasses Fill the Personal Context Gap

A VR Tuoluo article notes that the Qwen AI Glasses N1 Pro, unveiled on September 22, adds high-precision eye tracking for visual question answering, object recognition and iris payment. The Wigain Flow full-color AI glasses from Qiuguo, planned for release later, also place an iris camera in the nose pads for identity verification. Eye data is emerging as a new data source for AI glasses to understand users.

The Price Dilemma of Micro-Optical Engines for AR Glasses, Seen Through the Supply Chain

The article argues that the core bottleneck keeping AR glasses from the mass market is not chips or software, but the micro-optical engine inside the temples. The micro-optical engine is the image-generation core of AR glasses, and its price remains high even after mass production, with most mass-produced models still selling for several thousand yuan or even more than 10,000 yuan.

Vision-Only vs. LiDAR Fusion: Which Demands More Computing Power?

The article analyzes the computing requirements of vision-only and LiDAR-fusion approaches in autonomous driving, arguing that computing demand is not simply determined by the number of sensors, but by how the perception system processes data and by its algorithm architecture.

iPhone 18 Pro Max Shoots Victoria Harbour Fireworks: Apple's Imaging Approach Shifts

After shooting Victoria Harbour fireworks with the iPhone 18 Pro Max, Leikeji concluded that Apple adjusted its imaging approach on the 18 Pro series launched on September 10, making the camera capabilities worth attention.

Lumentum Capacity Under Strain: What Businesses Beyond EML and CW Lasers Drive Its Strength

An article by Haitun Jun continues the breakdown of Lumentum: EML secures the core profit base of pluggable optical transceivers, while high-power discrete lasers, UHP CW, bet on next-generation CPO/NPO architectures. With supply and demand severely mismatched for high-end laser chips, leading manufacturers with in-house capacity simultaneously benefit from price increases, long-term orders and rising gross margins.

From Pixels to Optical Links: MicroLED Shifts to Co-Packaged Optics

A Laser Focus World article analyzes the surge in industry interest in MicroLED co-packaged optics (CPO) solutions, reflecting their multiple advantages, although technical challenges remain to be resolved.

Laser Focus World Podcast: Photonics News Roundup

Laser Focus World launches a podcast series rounding up photonics news.

Visibility Issues with the Pink Ball in Day-Night Cricket

Phys.org reports that the pink cricket ball was introduced for day-night matches more than a decade ago and approved for trials by the International Cricket Council this June; research shows its visibility under different lighting conditions is not always ideal.

NVision CTO: Scaling Photonic Quantum Computing Chemically, With Up to 100,000 Molecular Qubits on a Single Chip

In an interview, NVision CTO Ilai Schwartz explains that the company is betting on chemically designed photonic interconnects, arguing that this will make modular quantum computing hardware scalable, with a single chip potentially holding up to 100,000 molecular qubits.

Selecting Laser Welding Parameters and Assessing Quality for Nitinol

A Laser Focus World article covers the key process parameters for laser welding of Nitinol, including shielding gas delivery, heat control and post-weld treatment, along with methods for evaluating weld quality.

Virtual Prototyping Before Hardware: From Optical Design to System Performance

A Laser Focus World article notes that optical designs can meet specifications yet still fail at the system level, for example when imaging instrument output is interpreted by algorithms rather than the human eye. The article advocates using virtual prototyping to evaluate system performance before building hardware.

Black-light optoelectronic tweezers aid antibody drug development, with Xinguang Biology a leading domestic player

The article describes the expanding market for optoelectronic tweezers, a micro- and nano-manipulation technology based on light-induced dielectrophoresis. Black-light optoelectronic tweezers combine special wavelength mixes with polarization control to generate strong trapping forces without damaging samples, enabling uses such as antibody drug screening. Xinguang Biology is a representative domestic company.

From Fiber to the Server: Building Fiber Infrastructure for AI-Ready Networks

A Lightwave article notes that broadband networks are converging on architectures combining HFC, fiber, wireless and edge connectivity, placing higher demands on physical-layer density, speed and operations, and requiring fiber infrastructure built for AI.

In Conversation with Phenix Optics: A 60-Year Optics Veteran Embraces 'Light + AI'

During the 27th CIOE, Phenix Optics brand director Guo Jingyun spoke to Ofweek Optics about how the company, founded in 1965 and the first listed company in the optics industry, is seeking new opportunities in the 'Light + AI' wave.

Are DOE and Metasurfaces the Same Thing?

Citing Yole's 2025 diffractive optics report, the article notes that metasurfaces are a nanoscale subclass of DOE diffractive optical elements, not a replacement. The two have diverged in physical mechanisms, manufacturing routes and industrialization stages: traditional DOEs support today's volume production of AR optical waveguides, while metasurfaces carry future upgrades.

How Far Has 50G-PON Come?

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's 15th Five-Year Plan for the Information and Communications Industry sets a target of 1 million 50G-PON ports in China by 2030, compared with about 20,000 in 2025, a 50-fold gap. This is the first time 50G-PON has been included as a quantified target in a national five-year plan, and the article reviews its commercialization progress and obstacles.

The Other Side of the First Year of Waveguide Mass Production: Capacity Is in Place, but Is Yield Keeping Up?

The article argues that 2026 is the first year of optical waveguide mass production, with multiple production capacities of one million units coming online, but capacity expansion does not equal stable mass production. The core barrier has shifted from whether it can be done to whether it can be done consistently at high yield. The three major bottlenecks in materials, processes and inspection are interlinked, requiring end-to-end system capabilities.

Industry Analysis: Silicon Carbide Waveguides Shift from Performance Option to Mass Production Essential

An OFweek article analyzes how silicon carbide optical waveguides are moving from an alternative AR performance material to a core element of mass production, with materials, chips and modules all scaling up simultaneously. It cites actions including Aifalong's oversubscribed Series B round of more than 100 million yuan to build an 8-inch silicon carbide metasurface optical waveguide chip production line, Guangna Siwei's financing of nearly 200 million yuan, and Goertek Optics' F50Se module achieving a 50-degree field of view. The author believes cost, processing yield and supply chain maturity remain the three hurdles before large-scale deployment, with the current average price of a SiC waveguide chip at 250-350 US dollars.

From Optical Interconnect Veteran to All-Round Enabler, What Makes Lumentum Special?

An article by Dolphin Research breaks down Lumentum: its share price has risen nearly tenfold in one year, its market value exceeds 70 billion US dollars, and Nvidia invested 2 billion US dollars for a stake in March 2026. The article argues that no matter how optical module form factors change, the position of high-value, barrier-protected optical engines remains solid.

China's Top Three LiDAR Players Reorder Their Business Priorities as Growth Logic Diverges

Hesai, Seyond and RoboSense successively released financial reports in August. Comparing the three, the article points out that as mass-produced vehicle models, robotics and embodied intelligence become real demand, the growth logic of leading LiDAR companies is diverging.

Ciena Outlines Vision for an Era of Sustained Network Investment

Lightwave reports on Ciena's view that network investment has entered a sustained cycle.

Hengxin Technology's Wang Shenzhu: From Single Components to System Services

Hengxin Technology General Manager Wang Shenzhu gave an exclusive interview to C114 at PT Expo 2026, outlining the company's 6G-oriented plans in wireless coverage, access, satellite communications and digital twins.

Whose Golden Week Needs a Pair of AI Glasses Most?

The article looks at AI tour-guide glasses: tourists wearing the same AI glasses have appeared in Shanghai, hearing the story of the Huxinting Teahouse by the Nine-Turn Bridge and placing voice orders for xiaolongbao at Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant. Earlier, iFlytek AI glasses gained popularity among outbound travelers with real-time cross-border translation.

Photon Bridge CCO: Tackling Mass-Production Bottlenecks for External Light Sources in AI Optical Interconnects

In an exclusive interview with C114, Photon Bridge's Chief Commercial Officer discusses the interconnect bandwidth pressure created by expanding AI compute clusters and the role of integrated photonics in breaking through optical module power and density limits, with a focus on the mass-production challenges of external light sources (ELS) and the Dutch integrated photonics ecosystem.

CIOE 2026 AR Optics Review: Mass Production, Thin-and-Light Design and Color Emerge as Keywords

At the 27th CIOE and SIVA 2026, the keywords for VR/AR optics centered on mass production, thin-and-light design, and color displays for AR glasses. The article summarizes show trends, noting that 4-inch, 6-inch and other semiconductor wafers were everywhere, serving as a way to demonstrate mass-production capability.

Interview with Sunny Optics' Xiong Guanhao: Rebuilding the Value of Optics with "Optics + AI"

During CIOE 2026, Xiong Guanhao, Senior Director of Strategy and Marketing at Sunny Optics, said AI is moving from the cloud into the physical world, while optics is evolving from an imaging tool into a gateway through which AI acquires information, understands the world and transmits data.

Optical Waveguide Technologies Classified: Five Routes and Five Physical Logics

The article groups AR optical waveguides into three major categories and five technology routes: geometric, diffractive (including SRG, VHG and PVG) and metasurface. Each relies on different optical principles, performance limits and industrialization timelines, and the article argues that no single solution fits all applications.