Polish company Gekko Photonics has won the $1 million Luminate NY prize for its online chemical analyzer and says it will expand its online Raman analyzer production base in Rochester, New York.
A paper in Advanced Functional Materials examines the in-plane anisotropy of the bulk photovoltaic effect in the Pc phase of CuCrP2S6 at 100 K, concluding that atomic motion could help solar cells surpass conventional efficiency limits.
Researchers have demonstrated a laser-generated plasma filament antenna that emits radio waves, in work described in a paper on Laser-Induced-Plasma-Filament antennas.
A Lightwave broadband buildout roundup: Lightcurve is working with Harmonic to deliver coaxial-based multi-gigabit broadband to apartment buildings, while Bigleaf Networks, GoNetspeed, Kinetic, Rightfiber and Xfinity are also expanding their networks.
Laser Focus World reports that optogenetics has been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
On October 5, Optica congratulated Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel on receiving the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their pioneering contributions to optogenetics.
Why we recommend it: The original is the optical society's official response to the Nobel Prize and can serve as a landmark event marking optics technology entering the life sciences mainstream
A team from the Ozcan lab at the University of California, Los Angeles has developed a digital-optical hybrid system that can identify deepfake videos simultaneously across multiple channels.
Why we recommend it: The source article presents a new application of a diffractive optical processor for AI vision tasks, illustrating a practical use case for optical computing
Vuzix has launched the configurable Shrike waveguide display platform for defense, security and emergency response applications, with the first samples already shipped to customers.
Why we recommend it: The source article gives a concrete product bringing waveguide displays into the defense market, helping to illustrate non-consumer markets for AR waveguides
A Laser Focus World article notes that an optical design can meet its specifications yet still fail at the system level, for example when the output of an imaging instrument is interpreted by algorithms rather than the human eye; it advocates using virtual prototyping to evaluate system performance before building hardware.
Optics & Photonics News reports that Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel have received the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their pioneering contributions to optogenetics.
A paper in Nature Communications uses wavefront shaping to focus light through a scattering medium onto multiple target points, revealing giant fluctuations in focused intensity and using them to uncover hidden correlations in opaque materials.
Researchers used a programmable photonic chip to read out the hidden topology of lossy systems: two signal channels reproduce the lossy system, while two auxiliary channels absorb the leaked energy, allowing topological properties to be measured despite energy loss.
Earlier studies proposed a photomolecular effect in which visible light illumination could accelerate water evaporation in hydrogel and water droplet experiments. New rigorous experiments find this claim to be inaccurate.
Researchers irradiated a large-area suspended thin film with an intense laser to induce a propagating electrostatic wave, letting protons ride the wave to higher energies under long-pulse laser conditions.
EPFL researchers have developed a photonic integrated, infinitely self-injection-locked laser that maintains lock without active control and has been packaged in a standard fiber-coupled butterfly package.
Why we recommend it: The original describes an integrated narrow-linewidth laser ready for direct packaging, relevant to simplifying laser sources in optical communications and sensing.
Researchers propose a new method for generating nearly indistinguishable photons from quantum dot biexciton cascades, with potential applications in quantum communications.
Smart contact lens company XPANCEO has partnered with Contamac to advance the development of AR contact lenses using materials already used in FDA-cleared ophthalmic devices.
Multi-quantum-well materials developed by Seth Bank's team at the University of Texas at Austin show promise for nonlinear photonics, potentially enabling tailored large nonlinearity in nanophotonic devices.
Research published in Optica on October 1 presents a model that accounts for individual differences in color vision, explaining why modern displays appear to show different colors to different people and potentially helping develop more consistent displays.
ICTER researchers show that acquiring and combining multiple measurements while changing how light scatters can reduce speckle noise and distortion in optical imaging.
A paper in Light: Science & Applications uses multi-level time-bin encoding to transmit a cluster state over 29.5 km of partially deployed fiber.
Why we recommend it: The original work transmits high-dimensional cluster states over actual deployed fiber, offering useful insights for quantum network engineering
Optikos, an optical engineering and manufacturing services provider, announced on September 29 that it has acquired Omega Optical, offering a complete optics workflow from design and manufacturing to testing under a single ownership.
Researchers used an interferometer to split a laser into two beams of different colors, which were overlapped in a vacuum chamber to form a 3D light field used to manipulate electrons and drive them into quantum states previously inaccessible to experiments.
Lightwave's 21st Diamond Technology Reviews return to recognize innovation in DOCSIS 4.0 and PON-based fiber networks.
A team at DTU Electro, Technical University of Denmark, has made progress in ultra-low-noise supercontinuum lasers, nearly doubling the spectral range compared with similar low-noise sources by heat-treating the fiber.
Why we recommend it: The original work offers a simple fiber post-processing method that is useful for supercontinuum light source design
A research team used a laser to generate an artificial particle beam dominated by muons and captured the first shadow image of a stack of lead bricks, providing a more controllable source than cosmic rays for muon imaging.
Yutong Optics disclosed on September 30 that it has introduced glass aspheric array molding technology into C-Lens manufacturing, scaling from process validation to monthly output in the tens of millions and entering mass production and shipment. The company operates more than 600 sets of precision molding automation equipment and over 30 imported automatic coating machines, maintains a stable first-pass yield above 85%, and has won recognition from leading optical module customers.
Beijing Shiweitong's STAR Market IPO entered the inquiry stage on July 22, 2026, with plans to raise 793 million yuan, sponsored by CITIC Securities. The company has an overall gross margin of 58% and has ranked first in domestic market share for multifunctional lithium niobate optical devices for several consecutive years, but its revenue growth is sluggish.
The Joint Laboratory for High Power Laser Physics at the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM) has proposed a beam-spot analysis system based on an improved YOLOv8-seg to meet the need for rapid, precise alignment of optics along the full chain of high-power laser facilities, and has completed experimental validation.
Why we recommend it: The original work presents an engineering case of deep-learning segmentation models applied to laser facility alignment, illustrating AI entering optical assembly and alignment
Researcher Tian Ye and Academician Li Ruxin's team at the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM), together with Researcher Pan Yiming of ShanghaiTech University and others, have proposed a new mechanism that uses the quadratic phase accumulated during the propagation of free-electron quantum wave packets to simultaneously achieve selectable high-harmonic bunching and synthesis of non-classical quantum light sources, linking quantum state control, high-harmonic radiation and quantum light synthesis.
Why we recommend it: The original work proposes a unified framework for free-electron lasers and quantum light sources, offering useful insights for novel light source research
Researchers at the Joint Laboratory for High-Power Laser Physics at the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM) have studied the internal dynamics of spatiotemporal optical vortex strings, uncovering phenomena such as spatiotemporal attraction and filamentation stretching. The results were published in "Probing Internal Dynamics of Spatiotemporal Optical Vortex Strings".
Shuo Sun and colleagues used a fishbone photonic crystal cavity to combine a diamond nanobeam with a titanium dioxide integrated optical circuit, achieving heterogeneous integration.
Why we recommend it: The original article presents a new structure for coupling diamond color centers to integrated optical circuits, offering value for quantum photonic chips
The article describes the expanding market for optoelectronic tweezers (micro- and nano-manipulation technology based on light-induced dielectrophoresis). Black-light optoelectronic tweezers combine a special wavelength mix with polarization control to generate strong trapping forces without damaging samples, enabling applications such as antibody drug screening. Xinguang Biology is a leading domestic company in this field.
Data from NE Times show that 525,500 LiDAR units were installed in passenger vehicles in China in August 2026. Hesai installed 182,436 units, just 65 fewer than Huawei, with the two companies together accounting for 69.4%. The growth logic is extending beyond simply adding vehicle models to multiple LiDARs per vehicle, robotic perception and 3D spatial mapping.
Why we recommend it: The original article provides monthly installation and market share data, helping to gauge the automotive LiDAR market landscape
AT&T announced a multi-year optical fiber and cable supply agreement with Corning with a total contract value of more than $3 billion. Corning will continue delivering fiber and cable for AT&T's home broadband expansion. AT&T said average monthly traffic per fiber user has surpassed 1TB, five times the 2016 level.
Why we recommend it: The original article gives the contract value and user traffic growth, helping to understand the scale of fiber demand driven by AI and video
Huawei officially announced on September 29 that the Mate 90 series will launch on October 1, and showed the Huawei Ruiying Z10 module camera in a teaser video, marking Huawei's entry into external optics for mobile imaging.
Nature Photonics published a News & Views commentary discussing readout of qubits based on electrons on a helium surface and progress toward strong coupling between photons and single electrons on a helium surface.
Optica announced that Peter J. Delfyett, Sterling Backus and Frédérique Vanholsbeeck will serve as members of its Board of Directors.
Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) has developed a new device that measures the local angular distribution of curved mirrors to determine their absolute surface shape non-contact, with an accuracy of 2 nm.
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.